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HISTORICAL RECORDS
OF THE
BRITISH ARMY.
PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
ADJUTANT-GENERAL.
THE
EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT OF FOOT;
OR,
CONNAUGHT RANGERS.
LONDON:
Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,
14, Charing Cross.
GENERAL ORDERS.
_HORSE-GUARDS_,
_1st January, 1836._
His Majesty has been pleased to command, that, with a view of doing
the fullest justice to Regiments, as well as to Individuals who have
distinguished themselves by their Bravery in Action with the Enemy,
an Account of the Services of every Regiment in the British Army
shall be published under the superintendence and direction of the
Adjutant-General; and that this Account shall contain the following
particulars, _viz._,
—— The Period and Circumstances of the Original Formation of the
Regiment; The Stations at which it has been from time to time
employed; The Battles, Sieges, and other Military Operations, in
which it has been engaged, particularly specifying any Achievement
it may have performed, and the Colours, Trophies, &c., it may have
captured from the Enemy.
—— The Names of the Officers and the number of Non-Commissioned
Officers and Privates, Killed or Wounded by the Enemy, specifying
the Place and Date of the Action.
—— The Names of those Officers, who, in consideration of their
Gallant Services and Meritorious Conduct in Engagements with the
Enemy, have been distinguished with Titles, Medals, or other Marks
of His Majesty’s gracious favour.
—— The Names of all such Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and
Privates as may have specially signalized themselves in Action.
And,
—— The Badges and Devices which the Regiment may have been
permitted to bear, and the Causes on account of which such Badges
or Devices, or any other Marks of Distinction, have been granted.
By Command of the Right Honourable
GENERAL LORD HILL,
_Commanding-in-Chief_.
JOHN MACDONALD,
_Adjutant-General_.
PREFACE.
The character and credit of the British Army must chiefly depend upon
the zeal and ardour, by which all who enter into its service are
animated, and consequently it is of the highest importance that any
measure calculated to excite the spirit of emulation, by which alone
great and gallant actions are achieved, should be adopted.
Nothing can more fully tend to the accomplishment of this desirable
object, than a full display of the noble deeds with which the
Military History of our country abounds. To hold forth these bright
examples to the imitation of the youthful soldier, and thus to incite
him to emulate the meritorious conduct of those who have preceded him
in their honourable career, are among the motives that have given
rise to the present publication.
The operations of the British Troops are, indeed, announced in the
‘London Gazette,’ from whence they are transferred into the public
prints: the achievements of our armies are thus made known at the
time of their occurrence, and receive the tribute of praise and
admiration to which they are entitled. On extraordinary occasions,
the Houses of Parliament have been in the habit of conferring on the
Commanders, and the Officers and Troops acting under their orders,
expressions of approbation and of thanks for their skill and bravery,
and these testimonials, confirmed by the high honour of their
Sovereign’s Approbation, constitute the reward which the soldier most
highly prizes.
It has not, however, until late years, been the practice (which
appears to have long prevailed in some of the Continental armies)
for British Regiments to keep regular records of their services
and achievements. Hence some difficulty has been experienced in
obtaining, particularly from the old Regiments, an authentic account
of their origin and subsequent services.
This defect will now be remedied, in consequence of His Majesty
having been pleased to command, that every Regiment shall in future
keep a full and ample record of its services at home and abroad.
From the materials thus collected, the country will henceforth
derive information as to the difficulties and privations which
chequer the career of those who embrace the military profession. In
Great Britain, where so large a number of persons are devoted to
the active concerns of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and
where these pursuits have, for so long a period, been undisturbed
by the _presence of war_, which few other countries have escaped,
comparatively little is known of the vicissitudes of active service,
and of the casualties of climate, to which, even during peace, the
British Troops are exposed in every part of the globe, with little or
no interval of repose.
In their tranquil enjoyment of the blessings which the country
derives from the industry and the enterprise of the agriculturist
and the trader, its happy inhabitants may be supposed not often to
reflect on the perilous duties of the soldier and the sailor,—on
their sufferings,—and on the sacrifice of valuable life, by which so
many national benefits are obtained and preserved.
The conduct of the British Troops, their valour, and endurance,
have shone conspicuously under great and trying difficulties; and
their character has been established in Continental warfare by the
irresistible spirit with which they have effected debarkations in
spite of the most formidable opposition, and by the gallantry and
steadiness with which they have maintained their advantages against
superior numbers.
In the official Reports made by the respective Commanders, ample
justice has generally been done to the gallant exertions of the
Corps employed; but the details of their services, and of acts of
individual bravery, can only be fully given in the Annals of the
various Regiments.
These Records are now preparing for publication, under His Majesty’s
special authority, by Mr. RICHARD CANNON, Principal Clerk of the
Adjutant-General’s Office; and while the perusal of them cannot fail
to be useful and interesting to military men of every rank, it is
considered that they will also afford entertainment and information
to the general reader, particularly to those who may have served in
the Army, or who have relatives in the Service.
There exists in the breasts of most of those who have served, or are
serving, in the Army, an _Esprit du Corps_—an attachment to every
thing belonging to their Regiment; to such persons a narrative of
the services of their own Corps cannot fail to prove interesting.
Authentic accounts of the actions of the great,—the valiant,—the
loyal, have always been of paramount interest with a brave and
civilized people. Great Britain has produced a race of heroes who,
in moments of danger and terror, have stood, “firm as the rocks
of their native shore;” and when half the World has been arrayed
against them, they have fought the battles of their Country with
unshaken fortitude. It is presumed that a record of achievements
in war,—victories so complete and surprising, gained by our
countrymen,—our brothers—our fellow-citizens in arms,—a record
which revives the memory of the brave, and brings their gallant deeds
before us, will certainly prove acceptable to the public.
Biographical memoirs of the Colonels and other distinguished
Officers, will be introduced in the Records of their respective
Regiments, and the Honorary Distinctions which have, from time to
time, been conferred upon each Regiment, as testifying the value and
importance of its services, will be faithfully set forth.
As a convenient mode of Publication, the Record of each Regiment will
be printed in a distinct number, so that when the whole shall be
completed, the Parts may be bound up in numerical succession.
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF THE
EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT
OF FOOT,
OR,
_CONNAUGHT RANGERS_;
CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF
THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT
IN 1793,
AND OF
SUBSEQUENT SERVICES
TO 1837.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,
14, CHARING CROSS.
1838.
THE
EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT
OF FOOT,
OR
CONNAUGHT RANGERS,
BEARS ON ITS COLOURS
THE HARP AND CROWN,
WITH THE MOTTO
“_QUIS SEPARABIT?_”
AND THE FOLLOWING INSCRIPTIONS:—
“Egypt”——“Talavera”——“Busaco”——“Fuentes d’Onor”——
“Ciudad Rodrigo”——“Badajoz”——“Salamanca”——
“Vittoria”——“Nivelle”——“Orthes”——
“Toulouse”——and——“Peninsula.”
CONTENTS.
Anno Page
1793 The Regiment raised in Ireland and designated
“THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS” 1
1794 Embarks for Flanders —
———— Skirmish at Alost 2
———— Retreat through Holland —
1795 Embarks for England 3
———— Expedition to the West Indies —
1796 Returns to England 4
1799 Proceeds to the East Indies —
1800 Expedition to Egypt —
1801 Traverses the Desert 5
1803 Returns to England —
1804 A Second Battalion formed 6
1806 Proceeds to the Cape of Good Hope 7
1807 Embarks for South America 8
———— Attack on Buenos Ayres —
———— Returns to England 15
1808 Embarks for Cadiz 17
1809 Proceeds to Portugal ——
———— Operations in the Tras os Montes ——
———— Battle of Talavera de la Reyna ——
1810 Battle of Busaco 23
———— Lines of Torres Vedras 31
1811 Skirmish at Foz-d’Aronce 32
———— Battle of Sabugal ——
———— ———— Fuentes d’Onor ——
———— Siege of Badajoz 37
———— Blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo 38
1812 Siege of Ditto 39
———— ———— Badajoz 43
———— Battle of Salamanca 46
———— Advances to Madrid 48
———— Retreats to Portugal ——
1813 Advances into Spain 49
———— Battle of Vittoria 50
———— ———— the Pyrenees 51
———— ———— Nivelle 54
———— ———— Nive ——
1814 ———— Orthes ——
———— ———— Toulouse ——
———— Proceeds to Lower Canada 56
———— Attack on Plattsburg ——
1815 Returns to England 58
———— Proceeds to Flanders and advances to Paris ——
1816 In Garrison at Valenciennes 59
1817 Proceeds to Scotland ——
1818 Order of Merit established ——
1819 Marches to England 61
1821 Embarks for Ireland 62
1825 Proceeds to Corfu 63
1828 ———— to Cephalonia ——
1830 Returns to Corfu 64
1831 Proceeds to Vido 64
———— Returns to Corfu ——
———— The Badge——_Harp_ and _Crown_——with the Motto
“_Quis Separabit?_” authorized to be borne
on the Colours, &c. 65
1834 New Colours presented to the Regiment 71
1836 Proceeds to England 77
———— Does duty at Portsmouth 78
1837 Marches to Weedon ——
Service of the Depôt Companies from 1830 to 1836 77-87
Recapitulation 88
Services of the Second Battalion 90
APPENDIX.
Succession of Field Officers 94
Return of Officers Killed and Wounded 96
———— ———— ———— Died of Wounds, Fatigues, &c. 97
———— ———— ———— distinguished with Titles, Medals, &c. 98
Return of Non-Commissioned Officers, Drummers,
and Privates, who have received Medals 100
[Illustration: EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT OF FOOT (CONNAUGHT RANGERS.)]
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF THE
EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT OF FOOT,
OR
CONNAUGHT RANGERS.
[Sidenote: 1793]
When the breaking out of the war with France in 1793 occasioned
considerable additions to be made to the British army, this regiment
was raised in Ireland, under commission bearing date 25th September,
1793, by Colonel the Honourable Thomas de Burgh (afterwards Earl of
Clanricarde). Being recruited chiefly from the province of Connaught,
it assumed, as its distinctive appellation, the name of “CONNAUGHT
RANGERS;” and when the new-levied regiments were numbered from
Seventy-Eight upwards, received for its number EIGHTY-EIGHT. Its
facings were yellow, and it bore on its colours and appointments a
harp and crown, with the motto “Quis separabit?”
[Sidenote: 1794]
It was not long before the active services of the new regiment were
called for in the field: in the summer of 1794 a reinforcement of
seven thousand men, under the command of Major-General the Earl of
Moira, was sent to join the army of the Duke of York in Flanders; and
of this force the EIGHTY-EIGHTH Regiment, one thousand strong, and
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Keppel, formed part. The expedition
landed at Ostend on the 26th of June, at which time the Duke of
York, pressed by superior numbers, was retiring upon Antwerp; and
the Earl of Moira resolved not to attempt the defence of Ostend,
but to endeavour to join his Royal Highness. After a tedious and
difficult march, in the face of a superior and victorious enemy,
whose troops were already overrunning the country in all directions,
his Lordship arrived at ALOST, where he was attacked by the French,
on the 6th of July, with great fury; the enemy was, however,
repulsed; the steadiness and valour of the troops, with the skill of
their leader, overcame all difficulties, and the junction between
Lord Moira’s corps and the army under his Royal Highness the Duke
of York was accomplished at Malines, on the 9th of July, when the
EIGHTY-EIGHTH was formed in brigade with the Fifteenth, Fifty-third,
and Fifty-Fourth Regiments.
In the harassing operations of the autumn of 1794, and in the
disastrous winter campaign and retreat which followed, the
EIGHTY-EIGHTH had a full share. For some time it formed part of the
garrison of Bergen-op-Zoom, where it was reviewed by the Prince of
Orange and some Hessian officers of high rank, and received much
commendation for its appearance and efficiency. When Bergen-op-Zoom
was considered no longer tenable, the EIGHTY-EIGHTH was withdrawn
in the night by boats, under the command of Lieutenant (afterwards
Admiral Sir Home) Popham, and proceeded to join the army near
Nimeguen; in which fortress it was also subsequently placed in
garrison, but was withdrawn a few nights before the surrender. It was
then formed in brigade with the Eighth, Thirty-Seventh, Forty-Fourth,
and Fifty-Seventh Regiments, under the command of Major-General de
Burgh, and stationed near the Waal, to defend the passage of that
river.
On the 27th of November, 1794, General John Reid was appointed
Colonel of the Regiment, in succession to Major-General de Burgh,
who was removed to the Sixty-Sixth Regiment.
[Sidenote: 1795]
The Waal having become frozen so as to bear an army with its
_matériel_, the EIGHTY-EIGHTH retired across the Leek, and the
men, being exposed to the storms of a severe winter, endured great
hardships. Robert Brown states in his Journal (7th January, 1795),
“Nearly half the army are sick, and the other half much fatigued with
hard duty; this is now the tenth night since any of us had a night’s
rest.” The enemy continuing to advance in overwhelming numbers, the
army retreated during the night of the 14th of January, through a
country covered with ice and snow. On the subsequent days, numbers
of the men, exhausted with fatigue and want of food, were unable
to proceed, and many were frozen to death by the road-side. The
EIGHTY-EIGHTH proceeded to Deventer, the capital of a district in
the province of Overyssel; from whence the Regiment marched on the
27th of January, and, continuing its route for several days across a
region of ice and snow, arrived in the Duchy of Bremen.
In April the Regiment embarked for England; after its arrival it went
into quarters at Norwich, and proceeded to fill up its thinned ranks
with recruits from Ireland.
In the autumn of 1795, the EIGHTY-EIGHTH was ordered to form a
part of the expedition under Major-General Sir Ralph Abercrombie,
destined for the reduction of the French West India Islands, and
accordingly embarked under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel (now
Viscount) Beresford. The disasters which attended the sailing of
this expedition form a sad page in the naval history of England,
and were not easily obliterated from the memory of the survivors.
Various circumstances co-operated to delay the fleet, under Admiral
Christian, till a very late period of the year, and it had
scarcely quitted port when it encountered a hurricane by which it
was completely dispersed. Many of the ships foundered at sea; some
returned disabled into English ports; some were taken by the enemy,
and a small part only were able to weather the storm and proceed
to their original destination. The dispersion of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH
Regiment was as complete as that of the fleet; two companies,
commanded by Captain Trotter, were all that reached the West Indies;
of the others, some were in the captured ships, some in those which
put back to England, and a crazy transport, in which one division
under Captain Vandeleur was embarked, was actually blown through the
Straits of Gibraltar as far into the Mediterranean as Carthagena.
Here the vessel was frapped together, and with great difficulty
navigated back to Gibraltar, where the men were removed out of her,
and on loosening the frapping the transport fell to pieces.
[Sidenote: 1796]
The two companies which reached the West Indies, after being employed
in the reduction of Grenada and the siege of St. Lucie, returned to
England in the autumn of 1796, when the whole battalion was again
assembled, and embarked under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Beresford for Jersey, where its numbers were once more completed to a
full establishment, by recruits from Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1799]
On the 1st of January, 1799, it sailed from Portsmouth for the East
Indies, still commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Beresford, and arrived
at Bombay 10th June, 1800.
[Sidenote: 1800]
The next active service of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH was with the expedition
which the government of India fitted out, under the command of
Major-General Sir David Baird, in 1800, to co-operate with the army
under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercrombie, in the expulsion of
the French from Egypt.
[Sidenote: 1801]
The troops sailed from India in December, and arrived at Cosseir on
the Red Sea in June, 1801. On this occasion, in the fourteen days’
march across what is called the “Long Desert” from Cosseir on the Red
Sea to Kenna on the Nile, the EIGHTY-EIGHTH formed the van of Sir
David Baird’s army, preceding the rest of the troops a day’s march,
and it was thus the first British regiment to tread this dangerous
route.
From Kenna it sailed in boats down the Nile, and reached Grand Cairo
on the day on which that fortress surrendered to the British troops
under Major-General (afterwards Lord) Hutchinson.
[Sidenote: 1803]
On the final evacuation of Egypt by the English, the EIGHTY-EIGHTH,
instead of returning to India, as had been originally intended,
proceeded to England in order to be reduced, but arrived at
Portsmouth on the very day that the war with France was renewed,
the 5th of May, 1803, and was consequently saved from that fate.
Its numbers being then much weakened by time and casualties, and
its effective strength still more so by the ophthalmia, which the
soldiers had contracted in Egypt, the corps was ordered into quarters
in Kent and Sussex, where it remained three years.
Amongst the measures of defence taken at this time by the government
to secure the country against the invasion with which it was
threatened by Buonaparte, a general order was issued from the
Horse-Guards on the 2nd of December, 1803, commanding that (in
case of the enemy’s effecting a landing in any part of the United
Kingdom) all officers below the rank of general officers, and not
attached to any particular regiment, should report themselves in
person to the general officer commanding the district in which they
might happen to reside; and requesting all general officers not
employed on the staff to transmit immediately their addresses to
the Adjutant-General. The Colonel of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH, the Veteran
GENERAL REID, was then in his 82nd year; yet he immediately obeyed
the summons, and transmitted his address in a letter so spirited as
to deserve a place in the memoirs of the regiment which he commanded,
and upon which his gallantry reflected honour.
“_London, 6th December, 1803._
“SIR,—In obedience to the orders of His Royal Highness the
Commander in Chief, expressed in the London Gazette of Saturday
last, for all General Officers not employed on the Staff to report
to you their address, I have the honour to inform you, that I am to
be found at No. 7, Woodstock Street, near Oxford Street; that I am
an old man, in the 82nd year of my age, and have become very deaf
and infirm, but I am still ready, if my services be accepted, to
use my feeble arm in defence of my King and Country, having had the
good fortune on former occasions to have been repeatedly successful
in action against our perfidious enemies, on whom, I thank God, I
never turned my back.
“I have, &c.,
(Signed) “JOHN REID, General,
“Colonel of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH Regiment.
“_To the Adjutant-General._”
[Sidenote: 1804]
A second battalion was formed in 1804, and a statement of its
services is given at the end of this record.
[Sidenote: 1805]
In 1805, the regiment being then quartered in East Bourne barracks,
together with the Derby Militia and a detachment of the Tenth
Hussars, the whole under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable
Alexander Duff, of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH, a quarrel unfortunately
occurred between the soldiers of the two corps, which might have led
to very serious results; but which that officer, with a degree of
tact and knowledge of the nature and feelings of a British soldier
that were highly creditable to him, not only rendered innoxious, but
converted into a source of eventual benefit to the regiment.
The result of this conduct on the part of the commanding officer was
the making of the two regiments such attached friends, that when, a
short time after, the Derby Militia was permitted to furnish three
hundred and fifty men to regiments of the line, more than two hundred
of the number volunteered for the “CONNAUGHT RANGERS,” although they
were beset by the officers and recruiting-parties of many English
regiments, who naturally, but vainly, hoped to gain the preference
over a corps then exclusively Irish. The volunteers from the Derby
Militia proved as good and gallant soldiers as any in the army, and
a very large portion of them were killed in the various actions in
which the regiment was afterwards engaged.
[Sidenote: 1806]
It was about this period that His Royal Highness the Commander
in Chief ordered Sir John Moore’s improved system of drill to be
adopted throughout the army: under the active superintendence of
Lieutenant-Colonel Duff, the EIGHTY-EIGHTH was quickly perfected
in the new system, and was, in all respects, in the highest state
of discipline. The commander of the district, Major-General Sir
Arthur Wellesley, was reviewing Major-General Sir Brent Spencer’s
brigade, to which the EIGHTY-EIGHTH belonged, in Crowhurst Park,
near Hastings, when he received an express for the regiment to march
on the following day to Portsmouth, and join the expedition under
Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd. When the review was over, Sir
Arthur made known the orders he had received, and addressed the
regiment in very flattering terms, concluding a short and animated
speech with these words:—“I wish to God I was going with you!—I am
sure you will do your duty—ay—and distinguish yourselves too.” He
then took leave amidst the loud cheers of the corps.
[Sidenote: 1807]
The expedition[1] sailed from Falmouth on the 12th of November, 1806,
and, after remaining at St. Jago, in the Cape de Verde Islands, from
the 14th of December, 1806, to the 11th of January, 1807, arrived
in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 22nd of March following.
Here the EIGHTY-EIGHTH landed in marching order, and was for the
first time inspected by Brigadier-General Craufurd, who expressed
himself in terms of approbation of its general appearance. From
the Cape the expedition sailed again on the 6th of April; called
at St. Helena on the 21st, to complete its stock of water and
provisions; and, quitting that island on the 26th, arrived on the
14th of June at _Monte Video_, then occupied by the British troops
under Lieutenant-General Whitelocke, who had arrived there in May,
preceding, and now assumed the command of the whole British force in
South America.
On the 26th of June the army arrived off Ensenada da Baragon, a
port on the river Plata, about thirty-two miles distant from Buenos
Ayres, and landed on the 28th without firing a shot. The Thirty-Sixth
and EIGHTY-EIGHTH regiments were brigaded together under the orders
of Brigadier-General the Honourable W. Lumley. On the 29th the
troops moved forward; the light brigade, composed of the rifle
corps and nine light infantry companies, formed the advance, which
was supported by Brigadier-General Lumley’s brigade, and followed
by the other corps in succession. On the 1st of July the army was
concentrated near the village of Reduction, about seven miles from
Buenos Ayres, from whence it again advanced on the following day,
crossed the Chuelo, a rivulet, by a ford called the Chico, and
traversed the low ground on the opposite bank, at the extremity of
which stands the city of _Buenos Ayres_.
Hitherto the enemy had offered only a very feeble resistance, which
the discharge of a few round shot was sufficient to overcome; but
when the right column, commanded by Major-General Leveson Gower,
arrived near the Coral de Miserere, the Spaniards displayed a
formidable body of infantry and cavalry, supported by a brigade of
guns, with others in reserve. Brigadier-General Craufurd, placing
himself at the head of his brigade, consisting of the Ninety-Fifth
Rifles and light battalion, immediately made a vigorous charge; drove
the enemy back in confusion; captured nine guns and a howitzer;
and, profiting by the panic which had seized his opponents, pursued
them into the very suburbs of the city, where his career of victory
terminated, and Major-General Leveson Gower ordered the troops, first
to halt, and then to take up a position for the night about a mile in
the rear, near the principal slaughtering-place of the town. During
the advance into the town, Captain William Parker Carroll, with his
company, took a tilted waggon loaded with bread, and an eight-pounder
brass gun, on which EIGHTY-EIGHTH was immediately scored with the
point of a soldier’s bayonet, to mark it as a regimental prize.
The troops remained under arms during the night, exposed to heavy
and incessant torrents of rain. In the morning Lieutenant-General
Whitelocke summoned the governor to surrender; the Spaniards,
however, made an attack upon the piquets, in which the EIGHTY-EIGHTH,
which had relieved the rifle corps, lost about twenty men killed and
wounded. The assault of the town was now determined upon, and the
morning of the 5th fixed for carrying it into execution. For this
service the EIGHTY-EIGHTH regiment was divided into wings, the right
being commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Duff, and the left by Major
Vandeleur, who were directed to enter the town separately by two
different streets, and, having gained the banks of the river on the
opposite side of the city, to possess themselves of the houses and
form on the flat roofs; but what further steps they were to take, or
what they were to do after so forming, was not stated.
At half-past six o’clock on the morning of the 5th of July the attack
commenced: the right wing of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH, formed in sections,
advanced at a rapid pace through several streets unmolested, and
indeed without encountering, or even seeing, a single human being. A
death-like silence reigned throughout the town, or was interrupted
only by the measured tread of those who were most at a loss to
comprehend the meaning of the apparent solitude and desertion that
surrounded them. At length a few detached shots seemed to give a
prearranged signal, at which the entire population of a vast town was
to burst from its concealment, and in an instant the flat roofs of
the houses swarmed with a mass of musqueteers, who poured a deadly,
and almost unerring, fire upon the British soldiers. Under any
circumstances the combat between men exposed in an open street, and
adversaries ensconced behind the parapets of the houses on each side,
must have been an unequal one; but the British troops were for some
time absolutely defenceless in the midst of their enemies, having
been positively ordered to advance with unloaded arms.[2]
Lieutenant-Colonel Duff, however, penetrated as far as a church
on the right-hand side of the street in which his column had been
directed to establish itself; but the strength of the barricadoed
doors defied all attempts to force an entrance. His situation now
became desperate; to remain stationary was to expose himself and his
little band to certain massacre, unmitigated even by the being able
to sell their lives dearly; to advance was nearly as pregnant with
destruction; and even returning, independent of the repugnance every
British officer feels to the very idea of retreat, was “as bad as to
go on.” Lieutenant-Colonel Duff’s resolution was as prompt as the
necessity was urgent; he made up his mind, on the instant, to hazard
every thing while there was the most distant chance of success,
and determined to push on; a determination which was received by
his men with shouts, and seconded by them as if every individual
soldier had felt himself personally responsible for the issue of the
contest. With the few brave companions that survived, he succeeded
in making his way into a cross street, and forcing open two houses,
the doors of which were not so ponderous, or so well secured as
those of the church: the houses, however, were not carried till
after a severe struggle, in which all the men that defended them
were put to death: and even when taken they afforded the captors but
little shelter, being lower than the surrounding buildings, and,
consequently, commanded on every side. At length, after a vain and
murderous contest of four hours’ duration, but not until the last
round of ammunition was expended, Lieutenant-Colonel Duff and his few
remaining men were reduced to the necessity of surrendering prisoners
of war.
The left wing of the regiment, under Major Vandeleur, had been,
in the mean time, engaged in a contest equally murderous, equally
hopeless, and equally unfortunate. It had penetrated a considerable
way into one of the main streets of the town before a single enemy
appeared: two mounted videttes were at length observed retiring
slowly, and, as they retired, constantly looking up to the tops of
the houses, evidently giving directions to the armed men, who were
as yet concealed behind the parapets. Major Vandeleur ordered his
men to advance in double-quick time; a terrific shout now burst from
behind the parapets, and, in an instant, a dreadful fire of musketry,
accompanied by hand-grenades and other missiles, carried death
through the British ranks. Revenge or even resistance was out of the
question; nevertheless the men remained undismayed, and continued to
press on. A deep trench with a parapet cut across the street stopped
them but for a moment; they carried it at the point of the bayonet,
though with immense loss, and, finally, surmounting every obstacle,
succeeded in reaching the river, where they found themselves exposed
to an enfilading fire from the guns of the citadel, at about three
hundred yards’ distance: they broke open a house, but it afforded
no protection, the yard being surrounded by other parapeted houses,
from whence an incessant and destructive fire was poured upon them;
artillery was brought against them, and a large body of troops
surrounded them in a _cul-de-sac_, from which either advance or
retreat was impracticable. For three hours and a half did this
devoted little band protract the hopeless struggle, and not until
they were nearly annihilated, and until the firing had ceased on
every other point, and until, like their comrades under Colonel Duff,
they had expended the last ball cartridge that could be found even in
the pouches of their dead or dying companions, did they adopt the sad
alternative of surrender.
Thus ended the fatal 5th of July, 1807, the first and only occasion
on which the EIGHTY-EIGHTH sustained a defeat. They had the
consolation, however, of knowing, that all that men _could_ do they
_had_ done, and of reflecting on many individual acts of devoted
bravery highly honourable to the corps. Lieutenant Robert Nickle
(late Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty-Sixth) led the advance of
Brigadier-General Craufurd’s division column into the town, and fell,
dangerously wounded, after having given repeated proofs of cool
intrepidity united with the most daring courage. Lieutenant William
Mackie (now Major, and late Captain, in the Ninety-Fourth Regiment)
was severely wounded in the thigh, but, although fainting from loss
of blood, continued at the head of his men, until a second bullet
struck him across the spine, and stretched him, to all appearance,
dead upon the ground; contrary to every expectation, however, though
to the unfeigned delight of his comrades in arms, he survived, to
gather fresh laurels in the Peninsula. Lieutenant George Bury also
distinguished himself by vanquishing, in single combat, a Spanish
officer of grenadiers. Serjeant-Major William Bone, for his gallant
conduct on the same occasion, was recommended by Lieutenant-Colonel
Duff for an ensigncy, to which he was promoted, and died a Captain in
the Royal African regiment.
When the regiment was ordered for embarkation, Captain Oates, who
was doing duty with the first, though in fact belonging to the
second battalion, volunteered and received the permission of his
Royal Highness the Duke of York to accompany the regiment; being a
supernumerary he was attached to the Thirty-Eighth, a company of
which he commanded in the attack on the Plaza de Toros.
Some of the other divisions of the army had met with less opposition
than this regiment; the _Plaza de Toros_, a strong post on the
enemy’s right, and the _Residencia_, a good post on their left, were
taken; at the same time part of the army had gained an advanced
position opposite the enemy’s centre; but these advantages had cost
two thousand five hundred men in killed, wounded, and prisoners.
The loss of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH on this occasion amounted to twenty
officers, and two hundred and twenty non-commissioned officers and
privates killed and wounded.
_Officers killed._
Lieutenant Thompson
” Hale
Ensign M‘Gregor
Assist. Surgeon Ferguson
_Wounded._
Major Iremonger
Captain M‘Pherson
” Dunne
” Chisholme
” Seton
” Peshall
Lieut. Adair
” R. Nickle
” Graydon
” Whittle
” Stewart
” Buller
” Bury
” Mackie
” Gregg
Adj. Robertson
On the following morning Lieutenant-General Whitelocke consented,
at the instance of the Spanish commander, to desist from further
hostilities, and to evacuate the place, on condition of having the
captured regiments released.
The conduct of the Spanish towards the EIGHTY-EIGHTH, after its
surrender, was marked by much kindness, and few instances occurred
of officers being plundered. Captain M‘Gregor was robbed of his
gold watch by a black soldier, but recovered it again three days
afterwards, upon pointing out the man to a Spanish officer. The same
officer was afterwards introduced by Captain Parker Carroll, who
remained in the country as one of the British hostages, to General
Liniers, and invited by the General to breakfast. The room in which
he was received was decorated with coloured drawings of the different
corps of militia and volunteers which had been raised within the
last few months, and whose officers appeared to be of all hues and
colours, from the real jet black to the mulatto, tawny, and even
the pale mestee. The General, who entered freely into conversation
with his guest, asked Captain M‘Gregor what he thought of the troops
by whose portraitures he was surrounded?—receiving, of course, a
complimentary answer, he replied, “Ay, it is _I_ who have done all
this for them. Those Spaniards knew nothing of military tactics
until I arrived amongst them.” He spoke in terms of high praise of
Brigadier-General Beresford, and said they were indebted to that
officer for teaching them how to defend the town.
On the 10th of July the EIGHTY-EIGHTH re-embarked at Buenos Ayres,
and descended the River Plate to Monte Video, at which place it
arrived on the 18th; on the 8th of August it sailed with the
first division of the army for England, and, after a tedious
and boisterous passage, made Spithead on the 5th, and landed at
Portsmouth on the 8th of November, 1807. During the voyage it lost
two officers by death, Lieutenant Lawson and Ensign Jackson.
In February, 1807, while the regiment was abroad engaged in the
arduous services just detailed, its Colonel, General John Reid,[3]
died, and was succeeded in the command by W. Carr Beresford, at that
time Senior Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, with the rank of
Colonel in the army. Such an instance of promotion is unusual in the
service at the present period, and must be considered, therefore, as
highly complimentary, not only to Colonel Beresford, but also to the
regiment of which he had been for so many years the acting commander.
[Sidenote: 1808.]
Soon after its arrival in England the battalion was marched into
Sussex, and from thence to Ashford in Kent. From Ashford it was moved
in the spring of 1808 to Maldon, in Essex, where it received a draft
of four hundred men from the second battalion; this detachment had
unfortunately contracted the ophthalmia in Hilsea barracks, and,
notwithstanding all the precautions that were taken to prevent the
contagion spreading, upwards of two hundred men were in a short time
afflicted with the disease; nor was it until towards October that the
battalion again became quite effective.
On the 28th of December the EIGHTY-EIGHTH sailed from Falmouth for
the Peninsula, but encountered, in the Bay of Biscay, a gale of
three weeks’ duration, by which the transports on board which it was
embarked, were at length forced into Cork, and detained there until
the 21st of February following. While at Cork, Colonel Duff, to the
great regret both of officers and soldiers, quitted the regiment, in
consequence of the recent death of his uncle the Earl of Fife, and
the command devolved on Major Vandeleur.
[Sidenote: 1809]
The original destination of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH was Cadiz, off which
city it arrived on the 6th of March, 1809; but the Spanish Government
refusing to receive any British troops into the fortress, it was
ordered to Lisbon, where it landed on the 13th, and being brigaded
with the Eighty-Seventh, was marched, early in April, to Coimbra.
About this time, two of its non-commissioned officers, Serjeant-Major
Nicholas Torrence, and Quarter-Master Serjeant William Hill, were
promoted to commissions in the Portuguese army, of which the
Colonel of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH (Lieutenant-General Beresford) was
Commander-in-Chief, with the rank of Field Marshal.
When the combined British and Portuguese army moved from Lisbon
to the north of Portugal to expel Marshal Soult from Oporto, the
EIGHTY-EIGHTH was one of the regiments attached to the Portuguese
army under Marshal Beresford, destined to act upon the Upper Douro
and in the province of Tras os Montes, and intercept the retreat
of the French. The march upon Amarante, the passage of the Douro,
and the occupation of Oporto, are justly ranked high among the many
brilliant achievements of the Duke of Wellington: nevertheless, the
very nature of the service in which the EIGHTY-EIGHTH was engaged
unquestionably tended to put to severe trial the discipline of every
corps employed in it. The rapidity and length of the marches; the
very unfavourable state of the weather; the obstacles presented by
the nature of the country in the Tras os Montes, where the men were
frequently obliged to use torch-light to avoid the risk of being
dashed to pieces in the craggy paths they were obliged to traverse;
the hospitality of the peasantry, who, totally ignorant of the
imperious demands of military duty, were loud in commiserating and
anxious to alleviate the hard fate of their deliverers thus compelled
to march through their country in such inclement weather, and at such
unseasonable hours; all offered temptations to straggling, which
it is not at all wonderful that the men in many instances yielded
to. The best-regulated army during a campaign, even if carried on
under the most favourable circumstances, always becomes more or less
relaxed in its discipline; and when it is considered that the wreck
of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH regiment, after its capture at Buenos Ayres, was
made up by drafts from the second battalion, that a few short months,
only, were allowed it to recruit and re-organize before it was again
employed in Portugal, it may be matter of regret, but certainly not
of surprise, that it did not form an exception to the general rule.
In fact many men were left behind, and some period of repose was
necessary to remedy these irregularities, but that repose could not
be obtained; for towards the end of June the whole disposable British
force was marched into Spain, and on the 27th and 28th of July was
fought the battle of TALAVERA DE LA REYNA.
The post of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH, on the first day, was in the wood
on the river Alberche, and its conduct was much praised by Colonel
Donkin, who commanded the brigade. It retired in line under a heavy
fire, protecting by its steady front the advanced troops, who were
greatly out-numbered by the enemy. During the retreat the soldiers
were forbidden to fire unless they could _cover their man_. Corporal
Thomas Kelly, of the fourth company, was the first who pulled a
trigger; going up to the Adjutant, Lieutenant Stewart, and pointing
out a French officer, he said, “Do you see that officer standing by
the olive-tree in front of me? He is a dangerous man, and has been
giving directions to his soldiers that _won’t sarve us_; four of the
company have been hit already, but if you will allow me I think I
could _do for him_.” “Try, then, Kelly,” was the reply;—he fired;
the French officer fell, and the men, disconcerted by the loss of
their leader, ceased to harass the regiment, which continued its
retreat through the wood, and took post upon a hill on the left of
the allied army, which was the key of the position. The hill was
steep and rugged towards the enemy, but on the other side it was of
smoother ascent; the French, however, resolved to attack this post.
The sun was set, and the shades of night had gathered over the
hostile armies, when suddenly a body of French troops was seen
advancing boldly to the attack, and in an instant the regiments
were engaged in a sharp conflict. Colonel Donkin’s brigade beat the
enemy in front, and the Twenty-Ninth Regiment, by a gallant charge,
drove back part of the Ninth French Regiment. The enemy returned
to the attack; the fighting became vehement; “and in the darkness
the opposing flashes of the musketry showed with what a spirit the
struggle was maintained: the combatants were scarcely twenty yards
asunder, and for a time the event seemed doubtful; but soon the
well-known shout of the British soldier was heard, rising above the
din of arms, and the enemy’s broken troops were driven once more into
the ravine below.”[4] The fighting now ceased; and the bivouac fires
blazed up on both sides.
At day-break on the 28th the combat was renewed; a burst of artillery
rattled round the height and swept away the English by whole
sections; the roar of musketry succeeded, and the hill sparkled
with fire. At length, unable to sustain the increasing fury of the
British, and having lost above fifteen hundred men in the space of
forty minutes, the French retired in disorder to their own lines.
About two o’clock the enemy again advanced; their commander “gave the
signal for battle, and eighty pieces of artillery immediately sent a
tempest of bullets before the light troops, who, coming on with the
swiftness and violence of a hail-storm, were closely followed by the
broad black columns in all the majesty of war. The English regiments,
putting the French skirmishers aside, met the advancing columns
with loud shouts, and breaking in on their front, and lapping their
flanks with fire, and giving them no respite, pushed them back with a
terrible carnage.”[5] The attack was, however, soon renewed; a fierce
conflict raged along the whole front, and the EIGHTY-EIGHTH nobly
maintained its post on the hill on the left; it had no opportunity of
gaining distinction in close fight, but displayed great steadiness in
sustaining a heavy fire of artillery. The French at length relaxed
their efforts, the fire of the British grew hotter, and their loud
and confident shouts—sure augury of success—were heard along the
whole line; finally the French retreated without venturing another
attack.
The loss of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH in killed and wounded amounted to six
officers and one hundred and thirty non-commissioned officers and
privates. The officers were Captains Blake, Graydon, and Whittle,
and Lieutenant M‘Carthy killed; and Captain Browne and Lieutenant
Whitelaw wounded.
In the movement upon Almaraz the EIGHTY-EIGHTH joined
Brigadier-General Craufurd’s brigade. In this position, very
appropriately named by the soldiers “Hungry Hill,” it suffered much
from the tardy and defective supply of rations; a situation the more
trying to the men from its contrast to the exuberant plenty they
had recently enjoyed in the north of Portugal. Subsequently, the
regiment occupied, for some time, the town of Campo Mayor, where
Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Wallace joined and took the command of
the battalion, which received, also, a detachment of three hundred
men from the second battalion. Advantage was immediately taken of the
regiments becoming, even for a short time stationary, to commence
a system of drilling necessary for the re-establishment of that
discipline which, during the incessant activity of the preceding
months, had unavoidably been somewhat neglected. The task required
great zeal and firmness, activity and energy; but Lieutenant-Colonel
Wallace showed himself fully competent to it, and had the
satisfaction and honour of rendering his corps, what it afterwards
was acknowledged to be, one of the finest service regiments in the
Peninsular army. At Campo Mayor, also, the EIGHTY-EIGHTH set the
example, which was speedily followed by other regiments, of forming a
regimental mess; indeed, a marked friendliness and cordiality reigned
throughout the corps.
About this time Major Vandeleur died,[6] and Colonel Donkin, who
commanded the brigade, quitted the army, addressing previous to his
departure a letter to Colonel Wallace, from which the following are
extracts:—
“The distinguished bravery of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH Regiment at
Talavera, I shall ever reflect upon with admiration; and this
splendid quality has been set off, first, by the utmost patience
under the greatest fatigues and privations, and latterly, by the
most exemplary behaviour while in a state of repose.
“I request you will be pleased to accept for yourself and your
gallant corps, my warmest acknowledgments and best wishes, and
convey to it my sincere assurance that should the chance of service
ever place it again under my command, it will be one of the highest
gratifications that I can receive.”
Towards the end of the year (1809), the EIGHTY-EIGHTH removed from
Campo Mayor, and occupied the town of Pinhel in the province of
Beira: it was brigaded with the Forty-Fifth and Seventy-Fourth, under
Colonel Henry Mackinnon, and formed part of the third (or what was
afterwards known by the appellation of the “fighting”) division of
the army commanded by Lieutenant-General Picton.
[Sidenote: 1810]