anarchy and bloodshed, had also extended their devastating
influence to the French West India islands, and the planters of St.
Domingo had sought the protection of Great Britain against the fury
of the mulattoes and negroes who, inflamed with republican zeal,
carried massacre and devastation through the island. A large body
of troops was assembled, under Major-General Sir Ralph Abercromby,
to complete the deliverance of the French West India Islands from
the power of the republicans, and to reduce to obedience the
insurgents in the island of St. Vincent and Grenada, which formerly
belonged to France, but had been ceded to Great Britain by treaty.
Four troops of the SEVENTEENTH embarked at Cork for England in
August, 1795, leaving the head-quarters in Ireland; they landed
at Portsmouth, and joined the cavalry camp at Nestley, under Lord
Cathcart, and on the 21st of September embarked for St. Domingo.
The departure of the fleet of several hundred vessels, escorted by
a splendid division of the royal navy, under Admiral Christian,
was a scene calculated to impress the mind with an idea of British
power; but a storm ensued which scattered the fleet, when many
vessels were lost, and others returned to Spithead. The SEVENTEENTH
arrived at the West Indies in safety, and two troops were, for a
short time, employed as marines on board the Hermione frigate,
commanded by Captain Pigot, who was afterwards murdered by his
crew. The two troops were eventually landed at Martinico.
One squadron of the regiment proceeded to _Jamaica_, and was
employed, towards the end of 1795 and in the beginning of 1796,
against the native Maroons, who had been joined by a number of
runaway slaves, and were engaged in open hostility against the
British authority. The Maroon warriors were expert bush-fighters,
and the service against them proved destructive and severe; they
boldly engaging the troops on more than twenty different occasions.
[Illustration: 17th Light Dragoons, 1817. [To face page 40. ]
Thirty men of the SEVENTEENTH, with ten of another regiment,
were stationed, under the command of a subaltern officer, to
intercept a body of Maroons and negroes; but the latter had so
perfect a knowledge of the country that they came upon the military
by surprise. The officer being wounded, retired to a safe post,
where he delivered the charge of the party over to Serjeant
Stephenson of the SEVENTEENTH. The Serjeant then addressed his men
in the most animating language, and leading them to the charge in
a most spirited manner, at a moment when the Maroon warriors did
not expect an attack, he routed the rebels and killed and wounded
several of them[6].
[Sidenote: 1796]
On another occasion, when the troops were out in quest of the
Maroon bands, the dragoons came suddenly upon a number of warriors
deliberating in council in one of their recesses called the
Cock-pit, when Lieutenant Oswald Werge leaped in among them at the
hazard of his life, saying, "I bring you peace;" fortunately they
did not fire at him, but received him in a friendly manner, and
the consequence was, that a treaty was entered into with them; a
number of the warriors surrendered in January, 1796, and in March
the Maroon war terminated by the surrender of the other warriors,
who were afterwards removed from the island.
Five troops, with the head-quarters of the regiment, embarked from
Ireland for St. Domingo on the 25th of February, 1796.
One squadron had, in the mean time, been selected to form part of
the force to be employed in reducing to obedience the insurgents
in the island of _Grenada_, whose atrocious conduct had procured
them the designation of brigands. Having landed on the south of
Port Royal, the troops, under Brigadier-General Nicolls, advanced,
on the 25th of March, to attack the enemy, who occupied a strong
position on a hill of steep ascent. During the action two vessels
arrived from Guadaloupe with reinforcements for the enemy, and
were landing men on the beach, when the SEVENTEENTH were ordered
to interpose between them and the fort. Passing swiftly along
a lane strewed with killed and wounded, exposed to the fire of
both parties, the SEVENTEENTH reached the beach, and instantly
charging, put every enemy to the sword that had landed; no quarter
being given. When this service was completed, the cannonading was
so hot on both sides, that the squadron could not return without
being destroyed, and it took post under the cover of a hill.
The infantry having gained the crest of the enemy's position
and carried the redoubt by storm, the republican troops fled in
dismay,--some throwing themselves down precipices, and others
escaping through the thick underwood; when they arrived at the low
grounds, the SEVENTEENTH under Captain John Black, and St. George's
troop of light cavalry, darted upon them and slew three hundred
men in the space of a few hundred yards[7]. The SEVENTEENTH were
commended in orders for their distinguished conduct; their loss was
limited to one horse killed, four men and two horses wounded.
The SEVENTEENTH took part in several other operations and
skirmishes; in June the Commandant of the French troops at Goyave
surrendered, and a number of brigands retired, under a desperate
and atrocious character named Fedon, to their strong hold in the
mountains, where they were invested and forced to submit. In
addition to Captain Black, Captain Johnson, Lieutenant Werge, and
Cornet Brown of the regiment were also engaged at Grenada.
[Sidenote: 1797]
Four troops of the SEVENTEENTH were sent to _St. Domingo_,
where they served against the republican troops, and signalized
themselves at Fort Raimond, Irois, and Morne Gautier; but the
climate of this island proved so injurious to the health of the
British soldiers that it was eventually abandoned.
After losing many officers and soldiers in the West Indies, the
regiment embarked for England, where it arrived in August, 1797;
the head-quarter ship, the Caledonia, foundered at sea; the men
were saved by boats, and taken on board the Britannia, of Bristol;
but the baggage and regimental books were lost. On its arrival in
England the regiment received about four hundred recruits, also a
large draft from the Eighteenth Light Dragoons, and it was soon
restored to a state of efficiency.
[Sidenote: 1798]
[Sidenote: 1799]
In 1798 a Serjeant's party of the SEVENTEENTH was attached to
the expedition under Major-General Eyre Coote, which sailed from
Margate, on the 14th of May, for the purpose of destroying the
basin, gates, and sluices of the Bruges canal, to interrupt the
communication between _Ostend_ and Holland. A landing was effected
on the 19th of May, and the works were destroyed; but while this
was taking place, the wind and surf became so high that the troops
could not re-embark, and they were attacked by superior numbers,
and forced to surrender. The detachment of the SEVENTEENTH was
among the troops made prisoners, and it was sent to Lisle; it was
afterwards exchanged, and on rejoining the regiment in the spring
of 1799, such had been its exemplary conduct, that the Serjeant,
(William Brown,) was promoted to a cornetcy in the Waggon Train,
from which he was transferred to the regiment, and eventually
became a captain in the corps; and the private soldiers were
appointed non-commissioned officers.
Two squadrons were ordered to Portsmouth to embark for Egypt, but
the order was countermanded, and they rejoined the head-quarters at
Swinley, near Windsor, where the regiment was encamped during the
summer.
This year a second Lieut.-Colonel was added to the establishment,
which was augmented to ten troops.
[Sidenote: 1800]
After encamping on Bagshot heath, in the summer of 1800, the
regiment was employed in suppressing riots, occasioned by the high
price of provision, and it exhibited much forbearance under many
aggravated assaults from the populace, especially at Duffield,
where many soldiers were hurt, and several men of the regiment were
afterwards invalided in consequence of the injuries received on
this and other occasions: Captain Werge received a shot through his
helmet.
[Sidenote: 1801]
[Sidenote: 1802]
At a general muster at Manchester, in 1801, the regiment had
upwards of a thousand non-commissioned officers and soldiers on
parade, and nearly a thousand horses: but at the peace of Amiens,
in 1802, the establishment was reduced to eight troops. The horses
of one of the reduced troops were valued, by a dealer, at an
average of forty guineas each.
[Sidenote: 1803]
Having embarked for Ireland in May, 1803, the regiment experienced
much severe weather on the passage; it landed at Dublin, and war
with France having been resumed, two troops were added to the
establishment.
[Sidenote: 1804]
Four troops joined the force encamped, under Lord Cathcart, on the
Curragh of Kildare, in August, 1804.
[Sidenote: 1805]
In the winter of 1805 the regiment embarked for England, in the
expectation of engaging in active warfare on the Continent; but the
results of the victory gained by Buonaparte over the Austrians and
Russians at Austerlitz, occasioned the order to proceed on foreign
service to be countermanded.
On landing in England the head-quarters proceeded to Northampton,
where the regiment was inspected by Major-General Sir Henry Warde,
who informed the commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd,
that he had been sent to examine the regiment in consequence of it
being supposed to be unfit for service; but that he should report
it composed of the finest men, the best horses, and equipped with
the best appointments of any corps he had inspected.
[Sidenote: 1806]
In April, 1806, the SEVENTEENTH marched to the vicinity of London,
and were reviewed on Wimbledon common by their Royal Highnesses
the Prince of Wales and Duke of York. The Prince of Wales most
graciously shook hands with Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd, and wished him
joy on so fine a corps, as did also several other general officers
present on that occasion, and the Duke of York expressed his
gratification in very strong terms, at witnessing the appearance
of the corps and its correct manœuvring.
In September the regiment was suddenly ordered to prepare for
foreign service; two troops were separated to form a depôt; and
eight troops, having given up their horses, sailed from Spithead,
on the 5th of October, for South America, to engage in hostilities
against the Spanish provinces in that part of the world. Entering
the splendid and capacious harbour of Rio de Janeiro, the capital
of Brazil, information was received of the re-capture of Buenos
Ayres by the Spaniards; but arrangements, were, nevertheless,
made for carrying on the war in the Spanish dominions in South
America, and the SEVENTEENTH, having only short carbines, were
ordered to be armed with Spanish muskets, and to serve as infantry.
Leaving Rio de Janeiro, the fleet sailed to the Rio de la Plata;
two hundred miles up this immense river stands the city of Buenos
Ayres, where the stream is about thirty miles broad; but an attack
on this place was deferred, and the commander of the expedition,
Brigadier-General Samuel Auchmuty, resolved to proceed against
_Monte Video_, a town situate in a small bay on the north side of
the river, one hundred and twenty miles from Buenos Ayres.
[Sidenote: 1807]
In the middle of January, 1807, a landing was effected nine miles
from Monte Video, and the army advanced towards that fortress,
when the column, composed of the SEVENTEENTH, four troops of the
Twentieth, and two of the Twenty-first Light Dragoons, was attacked
by the enemy. Some sharp fighting occurred; Brigadier-General
Auchmuty's charger was killed, and he mounted one of Lieut.-Colonel
Lloyd's horses; his orderly trumpeter, Thomas Hudson, had also
his horse killed under him; but eventually the British dragoons
drove back their opponents, and took up the first position before
the fortress, about two miles from the citadel. On the 20th of
January a numerous body of men sallied from the town, but were
driven back, and on the 22nd a number of the enemy approached
the rear of the British line, when a skirmish ensued, in which
the SEVENTEENTH had two men killed and three wounded. During the
siege the SEVENTEENTH were employed in covering the troops before
the town and in bringing up provisions, in the performance of
which service they took many prisoners, and Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd
received the personal thanks of Brigadier-Generals Auchmuty and
Lumley. The town was taken by storm on the 3rd of February; on
this occasion the SEVENTEENTH formed part of the division under
Brigadier-General Lumley, in readiness to cover and support the
attack, and to protect the rear; on the capture of the town the
citadel surrendered.
Abundance of horses being found in the country, the regiment
was mounted; but great difficulty was experienced in procuring
forage. Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd proceeded above twenty miles up the
country, with four troops of the SEVENTEENTH, and two squadrons
of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Light Dragoons, and occupied
the out-posts of Canelon and St. Joseph, the latter situate on
the bank of a river of the same name. In the early part of March
Captain Ross's troop was sent to Las Penais, and Captain Supple's
to Cosa Negro barracks; and on the 1st of May the regiment had two
hundred and twenty-four mounted and three hundred and seventy-one
dismounted men in cantonments in and about Monte Video.
The arrival of Lieut.-General Whitelocke with additional troops,
and afterwards of Brigadier-General Craufurd with a further
reinforcement, was followed by an attack on the city of _Buenos
Ayres_. Embarking from Monte Video, the troops sailed nearly a
hundred miles further up the river, and then landed on the right
bank, about thirty miles from the city. Four dismounted troops of
the SEVENTEENTH were left, with a regiment of foot, to escort the
artillery from the place of disembarkation; and the four mounted
troops, mustering forty men each, under Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd,
were employed as follows:--Two troops were ordered to give up their
horses to the commissariat, but on putting on the pack-saddles
the horses broke loose, and were of little use: thirty mounted
men remained under Captain Lloyd, to superintend the landing of
provision,--of these, ten were sent forward after the army with
despatches, twelve mounted men were attached to one of the infantry
brigades, and the remainder accompanied Lieut.-General Whitelocke.
Thus this small mounted cavalry force was so employed, that it was
not available for the more important services of the expedition.
Advancing through a difficult country, the army arrived at the
suburbs of Buenos Ayres, and, on the morning of the 5th of July,
penetrated the streets of the town; a number of the enemy collected
in the rear of the army was dispersed by sixteen mounted men of the
SEVENTEENTH and thirty dismounted men of the Ninth Light Dragoons,
under Lieut.-Colonel Torrens and Captain Whittingham. While
advancing along the streets of this populous city, the British
infantry were attacked by the whole male population, who crowded
the windows and tops of the flat-roofed houses, and assailed the
British with musketry, hand-grenades, bricks, and large stones.
Fiercely braving this tempest of war, the English soldiers pressed
forward; in some places they were victorious, in others they were
overpowered and forced to surrender; and in the midst of this
scene of carnage and confusion, sixteen men of the SEVENTEENTH
and fifty infantry soldiers, led by Captain Whittingham, opened
a communication with Brigadier-General Auchmuty's brigade. Ten
mounted men of the SEVENTEENTH and some infantry, also communicated
with Colonel Mahon's brigade left at the village of Reduction: but
hostilities were terminated by a treaty, in which Lieut.-General
Whitelocke agreed to surrender the posts he had taken, also Monte
Video, and withdraw from the country, for which he was brought to
trial and cashiered.
[Sidenote: 1808]
The SEVENTEENTH left South America in November; they put into
Cork harbour from stress of weather, and were mustered there on
the 24th of December; but leaving that port in January, 1808,
they sailed to Portsmouth, and, after disembarking, joined the
depôt troops at Chichester. At this place they remained six weeks
dismounted, under orders for the East Indies; furloughs were given
to the men to the 20th of February, and such was the excellent
spirit which prevailed, that at the expiration of the term there
was only one absentee,--a man detained by sickness.
On the 29th of February the regiment left Chichester; on arriving
at this place the men had large balances to receive; on quitting,
they were thanked by the mayor and corporation, who stated that
they had spent three thousand pounds in the town in six weeks,
without a single dragoon misbehaving himself.
Eight hundred non-commissioned officers and soldiers of
the regiment embarked from Portsmouth under Major Cotton,
(Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd being detained as an evidence on the
trial of Lieut.-General Whitelocke,) and arrived at the Cape of
Good Hope on the 1st of June. On the 4th they were inspected by the
Commander-in-Chief at the Cape, Major-General the Honourable Henry
George Grey, who had formerly commanded the regiment, and was then
a Lieut.-Colonel on its establishment; he expressed himself highly
pleased with their appearance; and they fired a _feu de joie_ in
honour of the birth-day of King George III.
A remarkable circumstance, connected with the movements of the
SEVENTEENTH Light Dragoons is shown by the following statement,
viz:--the celebration of the birth-day of His Majesty by the
regiment in the four different quarters of the world in four
successive years; viz., in 1806 in _Europe_, in England; in 1807 in
_America_, at Monte Video; in 1808 in _Africa_, at the Cape of Good
Hope; and in 1809 in _Asia_, at Surat, in the East Indies.
From the Cape of Good Hope the regiment sailed for Calcutta. On
approaching the Ganges a fire broke out in one of the ships,
the Hugh Inglis, through the carelessness of a petty officer;
the magazine was instantly inundated, and the engines from the
other ships assisting, the fire was extinguished without serious
damage. On the following day the three top-masts were carried
over the side of the ship by a squall, and with them fourteen or
fifteen men; but the wind speedily subsiding, and the boats of
the fleet rendering assistance, all the men were saved except
one. On arriving at Diamond Harbour, the regiment was removed on
board of small vessels, and it landed at Calcutta on the 25th of
August,--mustering seven hundred and ninety men.
The regiment performed garrison duty at Fort William from August
to December, during which time Major Cotton, the regimental
quarter-master, and sixty-two non-commissioned officers and
soldiers died.
[Sidenote: 1809]
Having been placed on the Bombay establishment, the regiment
embarked from Calcutta under Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd, and arrived
at Bombay on the 1st of February, 1809. It was destined to occupy
quarters in the province of Guzerat,--a peninsula formed by the
Arabian sea and the gulfs of Cambay and Cutch, and proceeding to
Surat,--a city situate on a fertile plain, on the left bank of
the Tappi river,--it was there mounted on horses of a superior
description, furnished by an eminent native dealer, named
Soonderjie, for 450 and 500 rupees each.
[Sidenote: 1810]
While the regiment was stationed at Surat, four troops were
detached against the followers of a Mahomedan fanatic, who called
himself Jesus, the son of Mary, and had collected much treasure.
The inhabitants of the village of _Burding_, having joined
this fanatic, refused to pay tribute, and the detachment of the
SEVENTEENTH, under Major Supple, formed part of the force sent to
reduce them to obedience to the law. As the dragoons approached the
village, an immense crowd of these enthusiasts was discovered, and
they were summoned to surrender, and to give up their leader; but
they refused, with loud shouts in anticipation of victory. A feint
attack was made to intimidate them, but they threw clouds of dust
in the horses' faces, and dared the dragoons to the encounter. The
soldiers then charged; the fanatics fought with spears, and with
small hatchets, or javelins, fixed to the end of bamboos, twelve or
fourteen feet in length, with which they inflicted severe wounds;
but they were overpowered, and cut down or dispersed. Their leader,
and four of his companions, escaped, with their treasure, on swift
camels. On the arrival of some infantry and guns, the village was
razed to the ground. One corporal and two private soldiers were
killed; all the officers, several private soldiers, and many of the
horses were wounded: Lieutenant Adams had his helmet cut to pieces
from his head.
[Illustration: 17th Light Dragoons. Officers' Breakfast Mess
Baggage arriving on Camp Ground. (17th Lancers.) [To face page 56. ]
This year a detachment of the SEVENTEENTH accompanied Sir John
Malcolm to Persia; this party rejoined the regiment in December,
when the following letter was forwarded to the commanding officer,
Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd:--
"SIR,
"I only fulfil a duty when I inform you of the admirable conduct
of the detachment of your regiment that accompanied me to Persia.
It would, on such an occasion, be presumption in me to notice the
merit of an officer of so established a character as Lieutenant
Johnson, further than to state, that to his great care and
attention the good order of his party is, no doubt, chiefly to be
ascribed; but you will, I am assured, forgive me for expressing
the high opinion I have formed of Serjeant Willocks, whose
unwearied efforts were, at all moments, directed to the object
of supporting the character of his corps, in which, from the aid
of the non-commissioned officers, Corporals Carrigan and Batson,
who are both excellent men, and the general good disposition of
the whole party, he was completely successful. I can only add,
that the impression which the appearance, discipline, and private
behaviour of your men has made upon all ranks, in the countries
through which we have travelled, are such as must do honour to
the name of a British soldier.
(Signed) "J. MALCOLM, _Brig.-Gen._"
[Sidenote: 1811]
Leaving Surat, the regiment marched, in December, 1811, for its
new cantonments at Ruttapore, near Kaira, in the northern division
of Guzerat, where a commodious set of buildings had been erected
on a beautiful site near the river, under the direction of Captain
Goodfellow, of the Bombay Engineers, expressly for the use of the
SEVENTEENTH. Around the regimental cantonments the officers erected
very handsome and substantial houses of stone.
[Sidenote: 1812]
On the 1st of January, 1812, Colonel Evan Lloyd was promoted to
the rank of Major-general, and the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope
was appointed Lieut.-Colonel in the regiment, in addition to
Lieut.-Colonel Wm. Carden, who was appointed in 1811.
[Sidenote: 1813]
The regiment had not occupied its new cantonments many months
before it was visited by the epidemical fever frequently so
destructive in the fruitful province of Guzerat, and it carried off
many thousands of the natives, and numbers of Europeans. In the
months of October, November, and December, 1812, and January, 1813,
four officers and seventy-three men of the regiment died, chiefly
of this disease. This was followed by an equally destructive famine
in Guzerat, and the provinces to the westward, where no rain had
fallen during the two preceding years. Vegetation had nearly
ceased altogether; the rivers were reduced to mere rills, and the
nearly exhausted springs allowed a very limited irrigation around
the villages. Under this affliction, hundreds of the natives died
daily, and Guzerat, which is celebrated as one of the richest
provinces of the Mogul empire, abounding in rice, corn, sugar,
fruits of various kinds, cattle, and game, presented a barren and
woful spectacle.
[Sidenote: 1814]
[Sidenote: 1815]