Towards the end of 1781, a detachment was employed at the mouth
of the Shannon, in protecting a foreign vessel, stranded on the
coast, from plunder by the natives. The regiment was afterwards
quartered at Kilkenny, where its conduct was such that, on its
being ordered to a different part of the country, the inhabitants
petitioned the Government successfully for its return; at Limerick
also, and several other places, its soldier-like and orderly
behaviour received the official thanks of the civil authorities.
With the volunteers of Ireland, at that time in the height of
their popularity and the heyday of their zeal, the FIFTH was
on the best footing; whenever it marched through any town, the
volunteers turned out to receive it with all due honours, and so
great was their respect for the regiment and confidence in its then
commander, Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Lord) Harris, who had
served in the corps from the rank of Ensign upwards, that when,
on the report of an intended landing of the French near Cork, the
FIFTH was marched to Youghal, several volunteer corps offered to
join it in case a landing was effected by the enemy.
[Sidenote: 1783]
In March, 1783, the regiment was marched from Kilkenny to Dublin,
and at the first installation of the newly-founded order of St.
Patrick, its grenadier company furnished the guard of honour at the
Cathedral. A detachment was about the same time sent, under the
command of Major Battier, to Carlow, in support of the fencibles,
who had been insulted by the volunteers at Kilkenny.
[Sidenote: 1784]
In 1784, the regiment lost a distinguished leader, a powerful
patron, and an attached and sincere friend, by the promotion of
Earl Percy to the Colonelcy of the second troop of Horse Grenadier
Guards. The FIFTH had been his first command; he had held that
command for sixteen years, including the whole of the American
war of independence, and in compliment to him, the regiment
had received the denomination, which it still retains, of the
"NORTHUMBERLAND" Regiment. He took leave of his old comrades in the
following very complimentary and affectionate letter:--
"_Alnwick, Nov. 5, 1784._
"Sir,
"His Majesty having been pleased to appoint me Colonel of the
Second Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards, in succession to His
Royal Highness Prince Frederick, I take the earliest opportunity
of acquainting you with it: and although this new appointment
is a very flattering mark of His Majesty's approbation of my
services, yet I cannot help feeling the greatest regret at
quitting the FIFTH regiment of Foot, which I have had the
pleasure of commanding for sixteen years with great satisfaction
to myself, and, I trust, with some advantage to the corps. The
very uncommon attention which I have always met with, both from
the officers and men of the FIFTH, will ever be remembered by me
with the greatest pleasure; and however changed my situation may
be with respect to them, my regard, esteem, and affection for
them will ever continue the same, and I shall always be happy in
having an opportunity of convincing them of it.
"I am, with the greatest regard,
"Yours most sincerely,
(Signed) "PERCY.
"Officer commanding FIFTH Foot."
Earl Percy was succeeded by Major-General the Honourable Edward
Stopford, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-sixth Foot, whose
commission as Colonel of the FIFTH is dated 1st November, 1784.
[Sidenote: 1785]
The colours of the FIFTH being worn out by time and numerous
honourable perforations received in action, a new set was presented
to it with the usual solemnities, on St. George's day, 1785, in the
parish church of Belfast, where the regiment was then stationed.
In the evening the men dined sumptuously in the barrack-yard by
companies, at the expense of their lately promoted Colonel, Earl
Percy. In the same year, the assistance rendered by the FIFTH on
the occasion of a great fire which broke out in Belfast called
forth the public thanks of the corporation and inhabitants.
[Sidenote: 1787]
The FIFTH remained in Ireland, earning, by its discipline and
conduct, the repeated commendations of the several general officers
by whom it was commanded or reviewed, till May the 24th, 1787, when
it embarked at Monkstown, near Cork, for Canada, and after a voyage
of two months, touching by the way at Newfoundland, arrived at
Quebec on the 26th of July.
After a short stay at the capital of Lower Canada, the regiment
was encamped on the heights above Silleri, and after being
reviewed there on the 29th of August, 1787, by his Royal Highness
Prince William Henry (afterwards King William IV.), was embarked
at Wolfe's Cove on the 6th of September, in batteaux, for the
interior, where it remained for nine years.
[Sidenote: 1790]
[Sidenote: 1791]
From June, 1790, to the same month in 1792, it was quartered at
Detroit, on the Straits of St. Clair, above Lake Erie, in Upper
Canada. While the regiment was at this station, under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Smith[37]; the first aggression was made by
the troops of the United States on the Indian territory; and his
humane interference and exertions rescued many Americans from the
Indians, into whose hands they had fallen, for which he received
the thanks of the President.
[Sidenote: 1792]
From Detroit the regiment moved, in June, 1792, down to Niagara,
where it was reviewed by his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent and
Major-General Simcoe, who made a highly favourable report of it to
the Commander-in-Chief, declaring it to be "most fit for actual
service." From Niagara, Lieutenant Sheaffe[38] of the FIFTH, was
detached to coast the shore of Lake Ontario, and protest against
the settlements made by the Americans at Sodius, and other places,
during the suspended execution of the first American treaty.
[Sidenote: 1794]
General Stopford died in 1794, and was succeeded in the Colonelcy
of the FIFTH, by Sir Alured Clarke, G.C.B., whose commission was
dated the 25th of October, in that year. The regiment was still
at Niagara, where it remained till that post was given up to the
Americans in 1796, when it was ordered to Quebec.
[Sidenote: 1796]
[Sidenote: 1797]
[Sidenote: 1798]
In the winter of 1796 it was employed against the insurgent
Canadians at Point Levi, on which occasion it crossed the St.
Lawrence on the ice. In 1797, the corporals and privates were
drafted into the Twenty-fourth regiment, while the officers and
serjeants returned to England, and on their disembarkation were
ordered to Grantham, in Lincolnshire, to recruit; which service
was very successfully carried on in all the principal towns of
the county. From Grantham it was moved to Boston, and from thence
suddenly ordered to Norman Cross barracks, where some disturbances
had broken out among the French prisoners. After a few months,
however, at the particular request of the inhabitants of Boston, it
was again quartered in that town, on which occasion the volunteer
corps lined the streets through which the regiment had to pass,
and a splendid dinner and ball were given to the officers by the
inhabitants. This kindly feeling between Lincolnshire and the FIFTH
regiment has continued ever since, and more recruits have joined
its ranks from that county than from any other.
[Sidenote: 1799]
When the expedition sent out with the view of delivering Holland
from the power of France was determined on in 1799, the FIFTH
regiment, already in a high state of efficiency, both with
respect to numbers and discipline, was selected to form part of
the army destined for that service, and was accordingly marched
to the camp on Barham Downs. It was immediately after divided
into two battalions, upwards of eight hundred each, in strength,
Major-General George Hewett being appointed on the 5th of August,
1799, Colonel-Commandant of the second battalion; and in September
both battalions embarked at Deal for Holland, where they landed
on the 14th and 15th, and formed with the Thirty-fifth regiment,
the eighth brigade of the army, under the command of His Royal
Highness Prince William of Gloucester.
In the general attack made on the 19th of September on the whole
line of the French positions in North Holland, the FIFTH regiment
formed part of the column under Lieutenant-General Dundas,
destined to carry the intrenched villages of _Walmenhuysen_, and
_Schoreldam_, in the attack upon the latter of which, the first
battalion took an active part, and had one Lieutenant (Harris)
mortally, and its Lieutenant-Colonel (Stephenson) severely wounded;
sustaining, besides, a loss of five killed, four wounded, and four
missing. Of this action the Duke of York observed, in his public
despatch, "The gallantry displayed by the troops engaged, the
spirit with which they overcame every obstacle which nature and art
opposed to them, and the cheerfulness with which they maintained
the fatigue of an action, which lasted without intermission,
from half-past three o'clock in the morning, until five in the
afternoon, are beyond my power to describe or extol. Their
exertions fully entitle them to the admiration and gratitude of
their King and country."
In the battle of _Egmont-op-Zee_ on the 2nd and 6th of October,
Prince William's brigade was not actively engaged; but the flank
companies of the FIFTH, which were attached to the grenadier and
light infantry battalions of the line, and formed part of the
reserve under Colonel Macdonald of the Fifty-fifth regiment, had
an opportunity of distinguishing themselves; they had several men
killed and wounded, also Captain Pratt wounded on the 2nd, and
Lieutenant Hamilton on the 6th of October; and on both occasions
behaved so well as to receive the particular thanks of their
commander.
On the 10th of October the posts occupied by the two battalions
of the FIFTH, in front of the village of _Winkle_, were attacked
by the enemy in great strength. The French troops had succeeded
in forcing a passage over a canal which covered the village, when
Colonel Bligh, who commanded the first battalion, perceiving that
if the advance of the enemy was not checked, the remainder of
the brigade was in danger of being cut off, planted the colours
of the FIFTH on the top of the dyke, and kept his ground till he
had secured and covered the retreat of the brigade; the second
battalion, under Lieutenant-Colonel Talbot, in the mean time
maintaining its positions till ordered to retreat by Prince
William, who on this occasion, issued the following general order:--
"_Oude, Sluys, 12th October, 1799._
"Prince William desires Colonel Bligh and the first battalion
of the _Fifth_ Regiment will accept his thanks, for the gallant
manner in which they attacked the enemy when he was passing
the canal opposite Winkle; and Lieutenant-Colonels Talbot
and Lindsay, of the second battalion of the FIFTH, for their
exertions on the 10th instant."
[Sidenote: 1800]
The Dutch did not second the gallant exertions thus made to effect
their deliverance from foreign domination, and the evacuation of
Holland was resolved on. As late as the 12th of October, the FIFTH
Regiment was still in front of the enemy, and eventually occupied
the works at the Helder, during the retreat and final embarkation
of the army; being, according to Sir James Pulteney's letter of the
20th of November, among the last of the British troops who quitted
Holland, and exhibiting to the end, persevering good conduct and
unwearied courage, under hardships which his Royal Highness the
Duke of York, in general orders, dated 8th of October, 1799,
designated as "insupportable." On its arrival in England, the
regiment was stationed at Silver Hill barracks, and the following
year both battalions were ordered to Gibraltar.
[Sidenote: 1801]
In August, 1801, Sir Alured Clarke was removed to the Colonelcy
of the Seventh Foot, and the command of the FIFTH was bestowed on
the 20th of August, on Major-General Richard England, who, from
the 14th of April, 1800, had been Colonel-Commandant of the second
battalion.
[Sidenote: 1802]
[Sidenote: 1803]
[Sidenote: 1804]
At Gibraltar the regiment continued till the peace of Amiens, when
it returned to England. The second battalion was then disbanded at
Winchester, and the first ordered to Guernsey, where it remained
till 1804, when it returned to England, and was stationed first,
for a short time, at Hilsea, and afterwards at Colchester. The
war with France having been resumed, a second battalion was again
raised, in 1804, and embodied at Horsham in Sussex.
[Sidenote: 1805]
In 1805, the establishment of the first battalion was augmented to
1000 rank and file; and it was, with other regiments, reviewed in
the autumn at Colchester, by his Royal Highness the Duke of York.
In the same year the second battalion was stationed at Chichester,
and recruited successfully in Petworth, Steyning, Midhurst, Lewes,
and Rye; in February, 1806, it was sent to Guernsey, and from
thence in August following, it was removed to Alderney.
[Sidenote: 1806]
In November, 1805, the first battalion embarked at Deal, with the
forces under Lord Cathcart, destined for the defence of Hanover.
During the voyage the "Helder" transport, containing the left wing
of the battalion, was unfortunately wrecked off the Helder, and the
officers and men were made prisoners by the Dutch. The right wing
returned to England in 1806, and was stationed at Rye, in Sussex,
where it was joined in September, by the left wing, which had been
liberated by an exchange of prisoners.
[Sidenote: 1807]
In 1806, the first battalion sailed in the expedition under
Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd, to join the British forces at
Monte Video, in the province of Buenos Ayres, in South America;
and after being embarked upwards of nine months, landed on the
28th of June, 1807, at Ensenada de Barragon, and was formed in
Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Achmuty's brigade, for the attack made
by Lieutenant-General Whitelocke, on the capital of the province.
After some fatiguing marches through a country much intersected by
swamps and deep muddy rivulets, the troops crossed the Rio Chuelo,
and formed in the suburbs of _Buenos Ayres_, when the FIFTH had
its post towards the convent of Recoleta; and in the plan for
the general attack, the regiment was formed in two divisions,
and directed to penetrate the streets immediately in its front.
Accordingly, at half-past six o'clock on the morning of the 5th
of July, the regiment advanced: the streets were found deserted
by the inhabitants; the houses and shops closed; and a death-like
silence, interrupted only by the firm tread of the British soldier,
reigned in the midst of this populous city; but at a given signal,
the whole male population suddenly appeared, and the windows and
tops of the flat-roofed houses were crowded with armed men, who
commenced a destructive fire; at the same time the streets were
found intersected by ditches, and protected by cannon; but the
FIFTH, pressing onward with a conquering might which overcame all
resistance, forced its passage through the streets with fixed
bayonets, and, after penetrating to the river, took possession of
the church and convent of St. Catalina, from whence it moved to the
Plaza de Toros, where thirty-two pieces of cannon and a quantity of
ammunition were captured. In the mean time several other corps, not
able to overcome the opposition they met with, had been repulsed
or overpowered, and made prisoners by the Spaniards; and on the
following day Lieutenant-General Whitelocke agreed to vacate the
place. In this affair the FIFTH sustained a loss of fourteen
killed, also forty-seven wounded, amongst the latter was Major the
Honourable Henry King; and twenty-four missing. On the conclusion
of the treaty between General Whitelocke and General Liniers, the
English army re-embarked, and, after a tedious voyage, during
which it was exposed to considerable want both of provisions and
water, the 1st battalion of the FIFTH Regiment landed at Cork, in
December, 1807, where the 2nd battalion also arrived from Alderney
on the 3rd of the same month.
In the same year, the sanction of his Royal Highness the Prince
Regent was obtained for clothing the drummers of the regiment in
white, with white and red lace, instead of gosling green.
[Sidenote: 1808]
The second battalion was quartered at Charles Fort, Kinsale,
from whence it marched in February, 1808, to Fermoy. In the
summer of the same year, the first battalion, under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel John Mackenzie, was ordered to proceed to
the aid of the Portuguese in their resistance to the tyrannical
power of Buonaparte; it accordingly embarked at Cork, and sailed
on the 12th July for Portugal; where it landed on the 9th of
August, and immediately joined the army of Lieutenant-General Sir
Arthur Wellesley. In the action at _Roleia_, on the 17th, it was
one of the few corps whom circumstances and the nature of the
ground permitted to come to actual engagement with the enemy; and
advancing by the right-hand path to the heights of Zambugeira, it
climbed the rugged rocks in the face of a French force, which,
after a gallant resistance, was driven from the heights. Thus by
its conduct on that day, wherein two of its officers, Major Emes
and Lieutenant Doyle were wounded, it earned the Royal permission
to have the word "ROLEIA" inscribed on its colours. Its further
loss was three killed, and two serjeants and thirty-nine rank and
file wounded. Sir Arthur Wellesley, in his despatch, observed, "I
cannot sufficiently applaud the conduct of the troops throughout
this action. The enemy's positions were formidable, and he took
them up with his usual ability and celerity, and defended them most
gallantly. I must observe, that although we had such a superiority
of numbers employed in the operations of this day, the troops
actually engaged in the heat of the action were, from unavoidable
circumstances, only the FIFTH, Ninth, Twenty-ninth, the riflemen
of the Sixtieth and Ninety-fifth, and the flank companies of
Major-General Hill's brigade, being in number by no means equal to
that of the enemy;--their conduct therefore deserves the highest
commendation."
In the subsequent battle of _Vimiera_, fought on the 21st of
August, the first battalion of the FIFTH forming, with the Ninth
and Thirty-eighth Regiments, the first brigade, was posted on the
mountain on the right of the village. The enemy was defeated, and
the regiment was rewarded by royal permission to inscribe the word
"VIMIERA" also upon its colours.
These successes being followed by the Convention of Cintra, and
the evacuation of Portugal by the French, the first battalion of
the FIFTH was afterwards stationed in Lisbon, where it remained
several weeks.
Portugal being now free from the presence of an enemy, an army,
commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, was sent up the
country in the autumn, to assist the Spaniards in their resistance
to the armies of France, and the first battalion of the FIFTH
Regiment was selected to form part of this expedition.
[Sidenote: 1809]
Passing through Portugal by a rapid march, the troops traversed
four hundred miles in a short time, and were soon engaged
in operations in Spain; but the Spaniards, who were to have
co-operated, had in the mean time been defeated and dispersed; and
the little British army was eventually obliged to retire before
the superior numbers of the enemy. The FIFTH Regiment took its
full share in the disasters and privations of the retreat from
Sahagun to _Corunna_, as well as in the glories of the 16th of
January, 1809, when the steady firmness of the British army, by
repulsing at all points an assailant, superior in numbers and
artillery, and commanded by one of the ablest generals[39] that
France could boast, proved to the world that even a forced retreat
of two hundred and fifty miles, made under circumstances the most
disheartening, and accompanied by privations the most appalling,
though it might wear the sinews and exhaust the physical strength
of the British soldier, had no power to shake his resolution or
daunt his courage.
In the battle of _Corunna_, Colonel Mackenzie particularly
distinguished himself: after having one horse shot under him, he
remounted another, and was at length mortally wounded, whereupon
the command of the battalion devolved on Major Emes, who received
a medal for this service, while the regiment itself acquired
another honorary inscription for its colours, 'CORUNNA' being by
royal permission borne upon them. The number of killed and wounded
of the first battalion of the FIFTH, in the battle of Corunna, has
never been exactly ascertained; but on mustering after its return
to England, one serjeant, two corporals, three drummers, and one
hundred and twenty-six rank and file were found to be missing.
The first battalion landed in February, 1809, at Ramsgate, and
after a halt of a few days at Margate, was ordered to Steyning,
in Sussex, where it was fully equipped and completed to upwards
of one thousand rank and file, and embarked in July following at
Portsmouth, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pratt, to form
part of the expedition under the Earl of Chatham designed to effect
the destruction of the enemy's shipping and arsenal on the Scheldt.
During the siege of _Flushing_, on the Island of Walcheren, the
first battalion of the FIFTH was very actively employed, and
although bivouacked without tents during the whole time (with the
exception of one week that it was in garrison in Flushing, after
its surrender) had very few sick; but on being embarked to proceed
up the Scheldt for the projected attack upon Antwerp, the Walcheren
fever broke out in its ranks with dreadful violence, attacking
about six hundred men. In the active operations it lost one captain
(Talbot) killed, and Captain M. Hamilton and Lieutenant Galbraith
were wounded, the former losing a leg: its loss from disease was
much more severe, for before its return to England, in December
following, two captains (Philips and William Hamilton), and three
lieutenants (Brown, MacDonough, and Cary) and many men had been
carried off by the fever. On its return to England, the battalion
was stationed at Bexhill.
In the mean time a detachment of the regiment left in Portugal,
when the first battalion advanced into Spain, had been added to a
battalion of detachments under Lieutenant-Colonel Copson of the
FIFTH, and warmly engaged at the battle of _Talavera_, on the 27th
and 28th of July, for which Lieutenant-Colonel Copson received a
medal.
The second battalion had been removed from Fermoy, in April of
this year, to Coloony in the King's County, and from thence in
June to Cork, and, embarking at Cove, landed on the 4th of July
at Lisbon; and on the 3rd of August marched, under command of
Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable Henry King, to join the army in
the field under Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, and take
its share in the subsequent operations of the campaign. About the
end of September it was reinforced by nearly one hundred men of the
first battalion, who had been left behind as before stated, and it
passed the winter in quarters near the Portuguese frontiers.
[Sidenote: 1810]