Part 1
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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.