Part 5

In the French army which thus approached the Rhine, the celebrated SIR JOHN HEPBURN appeared at the head of a Scots regiment in the French service. When this officer quitted Germany in 1632 (as before stated), he was not satisfied with the manner in which the Swedish affairs were conducted: on his arrival in England he was knighted; in the following year he tendered his services to Louis XIII.; and a regiment having been constituted of the old Scots companies and some newly-raised men, he was appointed its Colonel, by commission dated the 26th of January, 1633. He served in 1634 with the French army,[34] commanded by Marshal de la Force. During the summer he was engaged in the siege of _La Motte_ (or La Mothe), which place surrendered on the 26th of July; and HEPBURN'S REGIMENT lost one captain and several men in this service. On the 19th of December, Sir John Hepburn passed the Rhine with his own and six other regiments of infantry, seven cornets (or troops) of cavalry, and a train of artillery, and took post at Manheim, from whence he sent forward parties to reconnoitre the enemy. The remainder of the French army afterwards passed the Rhine, and Sir John Hepburn marched to the relief of _Heidelberg_, an ancient city situate on the river Neckar, at the foot of the mountain called the Giesberg. This city was besieged by the Imperialists, and defended by the Swedes. After some sharp fighting, in which Sir John Hepburn distinguished himself, the besieging army retreated, and the city was delivered to the French on the 23rd of December.

[Sidenote: 1635]

After this success, part of the French army marched to Landau, and formed a junction with the Swedish forces under the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, which had escaped after the defeat at Nordlingen. Thus the remaining few veterans of HEPBURN'S SCOTS REGIMENT in the _Swedish service_, and HEPBURN'S SCOTS REGIMENT in the _French service_, were brought into contact to fight together in the same cause, and the two regiments appear to have been incorporated into one. This union would, doubtless, prove agreeable to both corps; the veterans in the Swedish service had long been without pay, and the strongest attachment existed between them and their former leader, Sir John Hepburn, who had been their companion in toil, in danger, and in victory; and this union of the two corps placed them again under their favourite commander: at the same time, Hepburn's regiment in the French service was already much decreased in numbers from a long campaign, and the addition of these renowned veterans would prove a valuable acquisition. Thus Hepburn's Regiments, or _Le Régiment d'Hebron_ in the SWEDISH SERVICE, and _Le Régiment d'Hebron_ in the FRENCH SERVICE (for the French historians use the same title for both regiments), appear to have become one corps in 1635; and there is reason to believe that the remains of several other Scots corps in the Swedish service were added to HEPBURN'S REGIMENT, as its establishment, two years afterwards, is stated to have amounted to the extraordinary number of 8316 officers and soldiers.[35] There appear also to have been two other Scots regiments in the French service in 1635, namely, Colonel Lesley's and Colonel Ramsay's, besides the Scots _Gardes du Corps_ and _Gendarmes_ spoken of at the beginning of this Memoir.

HEPBURN'S REGIMENT served during the campaign of 1635 with the French array in Germany, commanded by the Cardinal de la Valette; and the remains of the Swedish army, which had escaped after the defeat at Nordlingen in 1634, continued to co-operate with the French, and were commanded, under the Cardinal, by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Little advantage, however, accrued from placing an ecclesiastical dignitary at the head of the army. The supplies of provision were intercepted by the Germans, the French troops were reduced to the necessity of subsisting on roots gathered about the villages, and the horses were fed on the leaves of trees. At length the army, after burying its cannon and destroying its baggage, retreated through mountainous parts of the country; the Germans followed and attacked the rear; HEPBURN'S REGIMENT was sharply engaged amongst the mountains; and the Imperialists were severely punished for their temerity in a sharp action in September, near _Metz_.[36]

[Sidenote: 1636]

During the summer of 1636 HEPBURN'S REGIMENT served with the army commanded by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and in the month of May it appeared before _Saverne_, a town of Alsace, situated on the banks of the river Sarre, which was defended by an Imperial garrison commanded by Colonel Mulhein. The siege of this place was immediately commenced, and the garrison made a desperate resistance. A breach having been effected, three assaults were made on the 20th of June, and were repulsed with great loss. On the following day the batteries against the town opened their fire with greater fury than before, and during the progress of the siege the gallant Sir John Hepburn[37] was shot in the neck, and died, regretted, not only by his old companions in arms, but also by the court of France, where his valour and abilities were well known and appreciated. After holding out a few days longer the garrison surrendered; and Louis XIII. conferred the vacant Colonelcy of the regiment on Lieutenant-Colonel James Hepburn, whose name appears amongst the Scots lieutenant-colonels in the service of the King of Sweden in 1632.

[Sidenote: 1637]

The regiment appears to have continued to serve in Alsace, under the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, whose army consisted of French, Scots, Swedes, and Germans, in the pay of France; and during the year 1637 it was engaged in several skirmishes with the Imperialists, but no considerable action was performed by either side.

This year Colonel James Hepburn was killed, and he was succeeded in the command of the regiment by Lord James Douglas, second son of William, first Marquis of Douglas. From this period the regiment was known in France by the title of _Le Régiment de Douglas_.[38]

While the regiment was in Alsace, Picardy was invaded by the Spaniards, and in 1637 this corps of hardy Scots appears to have been withdrawn from the army commanded by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and stationed near the frontiers of Picardy.

[Sidenote: 1638]

In the spring of 1638 it was placed under the command of the Marshal de Chastillon, for the purpose of penetrating into the Earldom of Artois, which at this period formed part of the Spanish Netherlands.

The army having been assembled near Amiens, passed the Somme on the 18th of May, 1638; DOUGLAS' REGIMENT, forming part of the division under Lieutenant-General Hallier, passed the river at Abbeville, marched from thence to Doullens, and, after taking part in the capture of several small forts, was engaged in the siege of _St. Omer_, a place of great strength, and provided with a good garrison. The trenches were opened on the night between the 29th and 30th of June. On the 12th of July three hundred of the garrison issued out of the town to attack the men in the trenches, and encountering a party of DOUGLAS' SCOTS, a fierce combat ensued, and the Spaniards were driven back with the loss of many men killed and taken prisoners; the enemy also lost a strong post which they had held until that time.[39] A Spanish force, however, advanced to the relief of the garrison, and having succeeded in throwing succours into the town, the siege was raised by the French.

After quitting the vicinity of St. Omer, the regiment was engaged in the siege of _Renty_, a small town on the river Aa. The army appeared before this place on the 1st of August, and on the 9th the garrison surrendered.

The next service in which the troops were employed was the siege of _Catelet_, a town of Picardy, which the Spaniards had captured in 1636; and this place was taken by storm on the 14th of September.

[Sidenote: 1639]

Having passed the winter in quarters in Picardy, DOUGLAS' REGIMENT marched in the early part of May, 1639, to the rendezvous of the army at Doullens, and served this year against the Spaniards, forming part of the army commanded by General Meilleraie. The French commander marched first towards Aire, but after reconnoitering the defences of this place, he proceeded to _Hesdin_,--a town situated amongst marshes on the little river Canche, where he arrived on the 19th of May, and commenced the siege of the place with great vigour. Louis XIII. visited the camp, that his presence might animate the soldiers in their attacks; and, the garrison having surrendered on the 29th of June, the King was so well pleased with the manner in which this siege had been conducted, that he presented General Meilleraie with the baton of a Marshal of France; the ceremony was performed in the breach he had made in the fortress, and the King commanded _Te Deum_ to be sung in the principal church of the town.[40]

After repairing the works, the army advanced against the Spanish forces under the Marquis de Fuentes; and DOUGLAS' REGIMENT took part in a sharp skirmish near the village of _St. Nicholas_, on which occasion four pieces of cannon were captured from the Spaniards.

[Sidenote: 1640]

[Sidenote: 1641]

[Sidenote: 1642]

The regiment continued to take part in the military operations against the Spaniards. Meanwhile Scotland was violently agitated by an attempt made by King Charles I. to introduce the English Liturgy. This was followed by an unfortunate misunderstanding between the King and his Parliament in England, which produced a civil war; but, in the scenes of slaughter and devastation which followed, this regiment did not take part. It was in the service of Louis XIII. of France, who was engaged in a war with Austria and Spain; and the French King had urgent occasion for the presence of the three Scots regiments[41] with his armies.

[Sidenote: 1643]

While the civil war was raging in England, Louis XIII. died (14th May, 1643), and was succeeded by his son Louis XIV., who was afterwards designated _Louis le Grand_; at the time of his accession he was in his minority. Notwithstanding this event the war was prosecuted with vigour, and the court of France procured, in 1643, an additional regiment of foot from Scotland, commanded by Colonel Andrew Rutherford,[42] afterwards Earl of Teviot. This regiment was designated in France _Le Régiment des Gardes Escossois_, or the REGIMENT OF SCOTS GUARDS: but the title was only honorary, as it was never employed near the royal person. The date of its formation has not been ascertained; but, as it was afterwards incorporated into DOUGLAS' REGIMENT, now the FIRST ROYALS, this corps is its representative, and its services have a place in this Memoir.

Immediately after the regiment of Scots Guards arrived in France, it was ordered to advance to the relief of _Roucroy_, a town of the Ardennes, which was besieged by the Spaniards. The troops employed in this service were commanded by Louis de Bourbon, Duc d'Enghien, who was afterwards celebrated for military achievements under the title of _Prince of Condé_, or the Great Condé. The Spaniards had a superiority of numbers: the two armies engaged near _Roucroy_, on the 19th of May, when the French gained a decisive victory, and captured the cannon, baggage, and many of the standards and colours belonging to the Spaniards. Rutherford's Scots' Regiment had the honor of taking

## part in this battle. It was soon afterwards employed in the siege of

_Thionville_, a town situated on the river Moselle; and had one captain and four men killed, and one major and several private men wounded in the attack of the counterscarp. This siege being prosecuted with vigour, the town surrendered on the 10th of August, and the regiment appears to have marched immediately afterwards for Italy.

Meanwhile DOUGLAS' REGIMENT had been removed from the Netherlands and placed under the orders of Prince Francis-Thomas of Savoy, who commanded the French army in Italy; and, having been engaged in several operations, it was employed in the autumn in the siege of the city of _Turin_, in Piedmont, which place was invested on the 14th of August. The Scots Regiment of Guards also arrived in Piedmont in time to take

## part in the siege, which was terminated on the 27th of September

by the surrender of the city, when DOUGLAS' REGIMENT was placed in garrison.[43]

[Sidenote: 1644]

Before the following campaign the regiment was, however, removed from Piedmont to Picardy; and passing from thence to the Netherlands, it served, in 1644, under the Duke of Orleans, who held, during the minority of Louis XIV., the title of Lieutenant-General to the King. The army in the Netherlands was this year of considerable magnitude, and DOUGLAS' REGIMENT formed part of the division commanded by Marshal Meilleraie,[44] and was engaged in the siege of _Gravelines_, a town situated on the river Aa, nine miles from Dunkirk. The communication of Gravelines with the sea rendered it a place of great importance to the Spaniards, who made strenuous exertions for its preservation. Two sorties were made by the garrison in the early part of July, when DOUGLAS' REGIMENT was sharply engaged, and the enemy was repulsed. Every attempt made by the Spaniards to relieve the place was defeated, and the town surrendered on the 28th of July, 1644. This success was followed by the capture of several forts, and places of minor importance, near the sea.

[Sidenote: 1645]

[Sidenote: 1646]

While the Scots regiments in the service of France were gaining laurels in Italy and Flanders, England continued the theatre of civil war, and many desperate engagements were fought with varied success. At length the King's army, after suffering a series of reverses, was found unable to withstand the forces of the Parliament; and a number of officers and soldiers, who had fought in the royal cause, fled to France, and were taken into the service of Louis XIV. Five English battalions were formed, and added to the French army in Flanders; and, during the campaign of 1646, the British troops were employed in the siege and capture of _Courtray_, a considerable town on the river Lys; and they afterwards took a distinguished part in the siege of the city of _Dunkirk_, which surrendered to the French army on the 10th of October, 1646.

[Sidenote: 1647]

The British troops continued to take part in the war in Flanders: and in 1648 a troop of Scots cuirassiers, and the regiment of Scots Guards, had an opportunity of distinguishing themselves at the battle of _Lens_,[45] in Artois, under that distinguished commander the Prince of Condé. This battle was fought on the 10th of August, 1648. The Spanish army, commanded by Archduke Leopold, suffered a complete overthrow, and lost thirty-eight pieces of cannon, and upwards of one hundred standards and colours.

Soon after this victory an insurrection broke out in Paris; the court removed to Rouel, and afterwards to St. Germain, and part of the army was recalled from Flanders to besiege the capital, and to reduce the Parliament of Paris to obedience.

[Sidenote: 1648]

[Sidenote: 1649]

In this year (1648) a treaty was concluded at _Munster_, which restored peace to a great part of Europe, but the war was continued between France and Spain, and the British troops were continued in the service of France. Meanwhile King Charles I. of England, having fallen into the power of Cromwell, was beheaded at Whitehall Palace on the 30th of January, 1649.

While these events were taking place in other parts of Europe, Paris was besieged by the French army, of which DOUGLAS' REGIMENT continued to form a part; but an amicable arrangement between the Court and Parliament took place in the spring of 1649. This was, however, followed by insurrections in several of the provinces, and the Spanish commanders, availing themselves of the distracted state of France, recaptured several places in the Netherlands.

While France was disturbed with internal commotions, three hundred veteran Scots, who had been left in garrison at _Ypres_ in West Flanders, were engaged in the defence of that place against the Spaniards, and, after a gallant resistance, were eventually forced to surrender: but obtained honourable conditions, and marched out on the 6th of May, 1649, with drums beating and colours flying.

[Sidenote: 1650]

The commotions in France occasioned a decrease in the revenues of Louis XIV., and DOUGLAS' veterans, with the other Scots regiments in the French service, could not procure their pay. Meanwhile, King Charles II., who had been an exile on the continent for some time, was entering into a treaty, called the COVENANT, with the Scots, through whose means his Majesty expected to recover the sovereignty of Great Britain; at the same time, application was made to the French court for permission for DOUGLAS' and the other regiments to return to Scotland with the King; but these gallant veterans were so beloved and esteemed in France for their good conduct on all occasions, that Louis XIV. declined to accede to this request, and promised to give them their pay with greater regularity in future.

[Sidenote: 1651]

Had these distinguished regiments accompanied their sovereign to Scotland, great advantage would, doubtless, have accrued to the royal cause. But, instead of accompanying their King, they were employed in the defence of several strong towns on the frontiers of Picardy and Flanders. The internal disorders in France continued, a want of money prevailed in the army, and many of the French soldiers deserted. At the same time the Spaniards, being in communication with the disaffected in France, recovered several more of the towns which had been wrested from them in the preceding campaigns, and besieged Dunkirk.

While these events were occurring on the continent, Charles II. was crowned King in Scotland; but his affairs not prospering in the north, he penetrated into England, and the Scots troops sustained a decisive overthrow at _Worcester_ on the 3rd of September, 1651. The King fled from the field, and, after remaining in concealment with several loyal families for a short time, he escaped in disguise to France.

Meanwhile, the troubles in France were increasing. The Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Condé were opposed to the court; the latter was at the head of an army; and DOUGLAS' REGIMENT was employed in operations against the insurgents.

[Sidenote: 1652]

After several marches and manœuvres, the opposing armies came in contact in the summer of 1652, in the vicinity of _Paris_; the royal army was commanded by Marshal Turenne; and the rebel army by the Prince of Condé, who erected barricades in the Fauxbourg of St. Antoine, where he was attacked on the 2nd of July, 1652.[46] The fighting had been continued for some time with great resolution on both sides, when DOUGLAS' and three other regiments attacked a barricade across one of the streets near the river, which they carried sword in hand, and, having dislodged the enemy from the houses, established themselves on this spot. Immediately afterwards a troop of royal horse, attempting to pass the barricade, was repulsed by the insurgent horsemen, who were driven back in their turn by the fire of DOUGLAS' and another regiment from the houses. Scarcely had the horse quitted the street, when two bodies of insurgent foot came rushing forward with great fury to retake the barricade, but DOUGLAS' and another regiment opened so destructive a fire from the houses, and the regiments which guarded the barricade made so resolute a defence, that the rebels were repulsed with great loss. A general attack was afterwards made on the other posts occupied by the rebels in the suburbs of Paris, and the rebellion would probably have been crushed at once, but the Parisians opened their gates and admitted the insurgents into the city, and thus protected them from the fury of the royal army. The city of Paris having thus manifested a determination to take part with the insurgents, DOUGLAS' Regiment, with the remainder of the royal army, retreated on the same day to St. Denis, where his Majesty and the court had retired.

While the Prince of Condé held possession of Paris, and the royal army lay at St. Denis, a large Spanish army prepared to penetrate from the Netherlands into France, to act in concert with the French insurgents; when the court of Louis XIV. removed to Pontoise, and the army marched to Compeigne, and encamped under the walls of the town. The Spanish army entered France, but after a short stay it retired to the Netherlands, when the army of Louis XIV. advanced towards Paris, and encamped near Gonesse. This movement was followed by the return of the Spanish forces under the Duke of Lorraine, when the army under Marshal Turenne attempted to intercept the enemy, and a sharp skirmish occurred at _Villeneuve St. Georges_, nine miles from Paris, and the designs of the Duke of Lorraine were frustrated. But the Prince of Condé marched out of Paris, and succeeded in forming a junction with the Spaniards at Ablon; and the united armies were double the number of the forces under Marshal Turenne, who constructed two temporary bridges over the Seine, threw up entrenchments, and maintained his post for several weeks. While the two armies confronted each other, frequent skirmishes occurred in the fields and vineyards, in which DOUGLAS' Scots took a conspicuous part. On one of these occasions a captain of the regiment was taken prisoner, who escaped from the enemy a few days afterwards, and brought information that the Prince of Condé had left the Spanish army in consequence of indisposition. The enemy not being so watchful as before, and the King's army being in want of provisions, it retired with great secrecy during the night of the 4th of October, and continued its march to Courteuil, when the enemy quitted the vicinity of Paris, and marched into winter quarters in Champagne and other parts of France.

When the absence of the united rebel and Spanish army from Paris was ascertained, the royal family of France proceeded with a strong guard to the capital, and obtained possession of the city; and DOUGLAS' Regiment, with the remainder of the King's army, marched for Champagne, to attack the enemy in his quarters.

During the winter DOUGLAS' Regiment was engaged in the siege of _Bar le Duc_; the lower town was taken by storm, and, about the middle of December, when two practicable breaches were made, the upper town and castle surrendered; when an Irish regiment in the Spanish service was made prisoners. The Irish finding that the Duke of York was with the French army, in command of the Scots gendarmes and a regiment of foot called the Regiment of York, they obtained permission to enter the French service, and were incorporated into the Duke's regiment.