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CHARING CROSS. 1838. t'l THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT OF FOOT, OR CONNAUGHT RANGERS, BBAllli ON ITS COI.OUKti THE HARP AND CROWN, WITH THB bOTTO " QUIS SEPARABiTV AND THE FOLLOWING INSCRIPTIONS: Egypt"—" Takvera"— " Busaco"— «' Fuentes d'Onor"— " Ciudad Rodrigo "— " Badajoz "— " Salamanca "— " Vittoria"— « Nivelle"— " Orthes "~ " Toulouse" — and — " Peninsula." l"iiV*K^ \y( ^ CONTENTS. Anno 1793 1794 1795 1796 1799 1800 1801 1803 1804 1806 1807 1808 1809 The Regiment raised in Ireland and designated " The Connaught Rangers" Embarks for Flanders Skirmish at Alost Retreat through Holland Embarks for England Expedition to the West Indies Returns to England Proceeds to the East Indies Expedition to Egypt Traverses the Desert Returns to England . . . . A Second Battalion formed Proceeds to the Cape of Good Hope Embarks for South America Attack on Buenos Ay res Returns to England Embarks for Cadiz ... Proceeds to Portugal Operations in the Tras os Monies Battle of Talavera de la Reyna 6 7 8 15 17 11 i « ■ 1 VI AniHi ]810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 181*7 1818 1819 1821 1825 1828 1830 roNTENTS. Battle of Busacu Lines of Torres Vedras Skirmish at Fez d'Arunce Bcittle of Sabugal Fuentes d'Ouor Siege of Badajoz Blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo Siege of Ditto Badajoz Battle of Salamanca Advances to Madrid Retreats to Portugal Advances into Spain Battle of Vittoria the Pyrenees . Nivelle Nive Orthes Toulouse Proceeds to Lower Ctiuada . Attack on Plattsburg . Returns to England Proceeds to Flanders and advances to Paris In Garrison at Valenciennes Proceeds to Scotland Order of Merit established Marches to England Embarks for Ireland Proceeds to Corfu to Cephaloniii Returns to Corfu 23 31 32 31 38 39 43 46 48 49 50 bl 54 56 58 59 61 62 63 64 61 62 63 CONTKNT8. va An no Vdgnco of Ostond, hut to i>iidi>avour to join his Koyal Fliglitioss. After a tedious and difficult niarcli, iti the face of a superior and victorious oniniy, whose troops were ah'eady overrunning the country in nil directions, his Lordship arrived at Alust, where he was attacked hy the French, on the <')ih of Jidy, with great fury; the enemy was, however, repidsed ; the steachness and valour of the troops, with the skill of their leader, overcame all diHiculties, and the junction hetween Lord Moira's corps and the army under his Royal Highness the Duke of York was accomplished at Mulines, on the Uth of July, when the Ekmity-Eigiith 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 Ei(;n ty-Eightii 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 considerc ! 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 Nimcguen ; in which fortress it was also sub- sctjuently placed in garrison, but was withdrawn a few nights Infore the surrender. It was then formed in hriyade with the Fiighth, Thirty-Seventh, Forty-Fourth, and Fifty-Seventh Regiments, under ihe command of Major-General de Burgh, and stationed near the Waal, to defend the passage of that river. On the 27tli of November, 1 794, General John Reid was appointed Colonel of the Regiment, in succession to CONNAlUillT KAN(^RKS. 3 iMajor-riciu'ral ilc Hiirgli, who wan rcmovpc' to the Sixty- 179** Sixth IlogiiiiL'iit. The VViiul huvin^ hi'coinf frozen so os to bcnr an 1795 army vith its jnatt^rirl, the Ki(iifTY-Eu;i{iH retired acrcaM the Leek, and the men, being xfxiMed to the ttornis of u severe winter, endured great hanlships. Ro- U'rt Brown states in his Journal (7th .January, '7\)^)), " Nearly half the army are sick, and the other half much " fatigued witli h ird duty ; this is now the tenth night •• since anv n Mi Imd a night's rest " The enemy con- tinuing lo a'^vauc< in overwhelming numbers, the army retreat*.! ' I'ing the night of the ilth of January, ti rough a coimtry covered with ice and snow. On the stibsequent days, numbers of the men, exhausted with fatigue and want of food, vi'ere unable to proceed, and many wer..- frozen to death by the road-side. The KiGHTV-EiGHTH proceeded to Dcventer, the capital of (I district in the province of Ovcryssel ; from whence the Regiment marched on the 27th of January, and, con- tinuing 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 or- dered to form a part of the expedition under Major- General Sir Ralph Abercrombie, destined for the reduc- tion of the French West I ndia Islands, and accordingly embarked under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel ''"^w Viscount) Beresl'ord. 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 H 2 1 F w ; 1 ■ 1 ■ p ■' t^t i; i 1 id' !■ i '. ( t 4 EIGHTY-EIGHTH. OR 1795 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 En«rlish 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 com- panies, 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. 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 179G, when the whole battalion was again assembled, and embarked under the command of Lieute- nant-Colonel Beresford for Jersey, where its numbers were once more completed to a full establishment, by recruits from Ireland. 1799 On the 1st of January, 179'.), it sailed from Ports- mouth for the East Indies, still commanded by Lieu- tenant-Colonel Beresford, and arrived at Bombay 10th June, IHOO. 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 CONNAUGHT RANGERS. ly quitted ch it was idered at ts; some 3nly were r original -Eighth two com- ? all that J were in back to ! division actually • into the [?sscl was ated back f her, and pieces. St Indies, >nada and d in the vas again •f Lieute- n umbers ment, by m Ports- by Lieu- ibay 10th iHTH was idia fitted iir David ly under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercrombie, in the ex- igOO pulsion of the French from l%ypt. The troops sailed from India in December, and arrived 1^01 at Cosseir on the Red Sea in June, 1801. On this oc- casion, 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. On the final evacuation of Egypt by the English, the 1803 Eighty-Eighth, instead of returning to India, as had been originally intended, proceeded to England in order to be redticed, 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 re- port themselves in person to the general officer command- i KIGHTY-KIGHTH, OR : m ■ "v- 1803 ing the district in which ihey might liappen to reside; and requesting all general officers not employed on the staff to transmit immediately their addresses to the Ad- jutant-General. The Colonel of the Eighty-Eighth, the Veteran General Reid, was then in his 82nd year; yet he immediately obeyed the summons, and trans- mitted his address in a letter so spirited as to deserve a place in the memoirs of the regiment which he com- manded, and upon which his gallantry reflected honour. " London, 6th Decemlxr^ 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 rejx)rt to you " their address, I have the honour to inform you, that I " am to be found at No. 7, Woodstock Street, near Ox- " ford 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 tlie 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 Rkid, General, "Colonel of the Eighty-Eighth Regiment. " To the Adjutant- General." 1804 A second battalion was formed in 1804, and a state- ment of its services is given at the end of this record. 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 CONNAUGHT RANGERS. to reside ; )red on the to the Ad- ElGHTH, 12nd year ; and trans- deserve a he com- d honour. f r, 1803. tlis Royal sed in the 11 General ort to you you, that I t, near Ox- 82nd year infirm, but , to use my itry, having 3 have been ' perfidious turned my eneral, Regiment. md a state- record, cd in East Militia and e under the Alexander ifortunatcly occurred between the soldiers of the two corps, which 1805 might have led to very serious results; but which that officer, with a degree of tact nnd knowledge of the nature and feelings of a British soldier that were highly credit- able 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 com- manding officer was the making of the two regiments such attached friends, that when, a short time after, the Derby Militia was permitted lo 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 natu- rally, 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. It was about this period that His Royal Highness the 1806 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 > \ mW 8 EIGHTY-KIGHTH, OR 1806 orders he had received, and addressed the regiment in very flattering terms, concluding a short and animated speecli 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. 1807 The expedition* 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 De- cember, 1806, to the 11th of January, 1807, arrived in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 22nd of March following. Here the Eigiitv-Eigiitii landed in marching order. and was for the first time in- spected bv 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 2Gth, arrived on the 14th of June at Monte Video, then occupied by the British troops under Lieu- tenant-General Whitelocke, who had arrived there in May, preceding, and now assumed the command of the whole British force in South America. On the 26th of June the army arrived off Ensenada da Baragon, a port on the river Plata, about thirty-two miles distant from Buenos Ayres, and landed on tiie 28th without firing a shot. The Thirty-Sixth and Eighty- Eighth regiments were brigaded together under the orders of Brigadier-General the Honourable W. Lumley. On the 29th the troops moved forward ; the light bri- * Consisting of the first battalions of the Fifth, Thirty- Sixth, Forty-Fifth, and Eighty-Eighth Foot ; five companies of the Rifle Corps, two squadrons of the Sixth Dragoon Guards, and two companies of artillery. CON NAUGHT RANGERS. 9 ■giment in animated was going jty— ay- took leave he 12th of Jago, in of De- )7, arrived the 22nd rii landed time in- expressed ppearance. jn the 6th ) complete tting that i at Monte ider Lieu- there in md of the Ensenada thirty-two I the 28th ElGHTY- inder the . Lumley. light hri- irty- Sixth, rties of the -lards, and gadc, composed of the rifle corps and nine light infantry 1807 companies, formed the advance, which was supported by Brigadier-General Lumley 's brigade, and followed by the other corps in succession. On the 1st of July the army Mas concentrated near the village of Reduction, about seven miles from Buenos Ayres, from whence it again advanced on the following day, crossed the Chuclo, a rivulet, by a ford called the Chico, and traversed the low ground on the ^,pposite bank, at the extremity of which stands the city of Biienoft Ayre.f. Hitherto the enemy had offered only a very feeble re- sistance, which the discharge of a few round shot was sufficient to overcome ; but when the right column, com- manded by Major-General Leveson Gower, arrived near the Coral de Miserere, the Spaniards displayed a formi- dable body of infantry and cavalry, supported by a bri- gade of guns, with others in reserve. Brigadier- General Craufurd, placing himself at the head of his brigade^ consisting of the Ninety-Fifth Rifles and light battalion, immediately made a vigorous charge; drove the enemy back in confusion ; captured nine guns and a howitzer ; and, profiting by the panic which had seized his oppo- nents, pursued them into the very suburbs of the city, where his career of victory terminated, and Major-Ge- neral Leveson Gower ordered the troops, first to halt, and then to take up a position for the night about a mile in the rear, near the principal slaughtering-place of the town. During the advance into the town, Captain Wil- liam Parker Carroll, with his company, took a tilted waggon loaded with bread, and an eight-pounder brass gun, on which Eighty-Eighth was immediately scored with the point of a soldier's bayonet, to mark it as a regimental prize. The troops remained under arms during the night, ex- 10 KIGHTYKIGIITII, OR t' 1807 posed to heavy and incessant torrents of rain. In the morning Lieutenant-General VVIiitelocke summoned the governor to surrender; the Spaniards, however, made an attack upon the piquets, in which the Eiuiity-Eiohth, which had relieved the rifle corps, lost about twenty men killed and wounded. The assault of the town was now determined upon, and the morning of the 5th fixed for carrying it into execution. For this service the Ekjhty- EiGHTH regiment was divided into wings, the right being commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Duft', and the left by Major Vandeleur, who were directed to enter the town separately by two difterent streets, and, having gained the banks of the river on the opposite side of the city, to possess themselves of the houses and form oft the flat roofs ; but what further steps they were to take, or what they were to do after so forming, was not stated. At half-past six o'clock on the morning of the r)th of July the attack commenced : the right wing of the Eighty-Eighth, formed in sections, advanced at a rapid pace through several streets unmolested, and indeed with- out encountering, or even seeing, a single human being. A death-like silence reigned throughout the town, or was interrupted only by the measured tread of those who were most at a loss to comprehend the meaning of the apparent solitude and desertion that surrounded them. At length a few detached shots seemed to give a pre- arranged signal, at which the entire population of a vast town was to burst from its concealment, and in an instant the flat roofs of the houses swarmed with a mass of mus_ queteers, who poured a deadly, and almost unerring, fire upon the British soldiers. Under any circumstances the combat between men exposed in an open street, and ad- versaries ensconced behind the parapets of the houses on each side, must have been an unequal one ; but the British COXNAUGHT RANGKRS. u in. In the moned the er, made an PY-ElGHTH, wenty men n was now h fixed for le EUJHTY- right being the left by r tlie town J gained the the city, to oft the flat ke, or what ed. r the rnh of ing of the d at a rapid ndeed with- iman beinff. jwn, or was those who ning of the nded them. ?ive a pre- n of a vast 1 an instant iss of mus. erring, fire stances the ?t, and ad- houscs on the British troops wdre for some time absohitely defenceless in the 1807 midst of their enemies, having been positively ordered to advance with unloaded arms.* Lieutenant-Colonel Duff, however, penetrated as far as a church on the right-hand side of the street in which his column had been directed to establish itself; but the strength of the barricadoed doors defied all attempts to force an entrance. His situation now became desperate ; to remain stationary was to expose himself and his little band to certain massacrCj unmitigated even by the being able to sell their lives dearly ; to advance was nearly as pregnant with destruction ; and even returning, inde- pendent of the repugnance every British officer feels to the very idea of retreat, was " as bad as to go on." Lieutenant-Colonel Duff's resolution was as prompt as the necessity was urgent ; he made up his mind, on the instant, to hazard every thing while there was the most distant chance of success, and determined to push on ; a determination which was received by his men with shouts, and seconded by them as if every individual soldier had felt himself personally responsible for the issue of the contest. With the few brave companions * It may not be improper, in this place, to notice and correct an erroneous report which became prevalent in England, that the troops engaged in the assault of Buenos Ayres were ordered, not only to advance unloaded, but actually to take the flints cut of their muskets. The fact is, that two companies of the Eighty-Eighth only were thus deprived of every means of of- fence or defence except their bayonets; they had been on a piquet the night before at " White's House," and, consequently, joined their corps in the morning with loaded arms ; the order to draw their charges occasioning some delay, General Gower, who was present, became impatient, and directed those who had not drawn to take their flints out. The consequence was, that several of these men were killed in the streets while in the act of screwing in new flints. \'2 KIOIlTY-KKillTH. OU I i :^>2 f< 4 il 1 ■: It 1807 that siirvivt'tl, lie succeeded in making In's way into a cross street, and forcing open two houses, the doors of wiiich were not so ponderous, or so well secured as those of the church : the houses, however, were not carried till after a severe struggle, in which all the men that de- fended them were put to death : and even when taken they afforded the captors but little shelter, being lower than the surrounding buildings, and, consequently, com- manded on every side. At length, after a vain and murderous contest of four hours' duration, but not until the last round of ammunition was expended, Lieutenant- Colonel Duff and his few remaining men were reduced to the necessity of surrendering prisoners of war. The left wing of the regiment, under Major Vandeleur, had been, in the mean time, engaged in a contest equally murderous, equally hopeless, and equally unfortunate. It had penetrated a considerable way ijito one of the main streets of the town before a single enemy appeared : two mounted videttes were at length observed retiring slowly, and, as they retired, constantly looking up to the tops of the houses, evidently giving directions to the armed men, who were as yet concealed behind the parapets. Major Vandeleur ordered his men to advance in double quick time; a terrific shout now burst from behind the para- pets, and, in an instant, a dreadful fire of musketry, accompanied by hand-grenades and other missiles, carried death through the British ranks. Revenge or even re- sistance was out of the question ; nevertheless the men remained undismayed, and continued to press on. A deep trench with a parapet cut across the street stopped them but for a moment ; they carried it at the point of the bayonet, though with immense loss, and, finally, sur- mounting every obstacle, succeeded in reaching the river, where they found themselves exposed to an enfilading CONNAUGIIT RANOKRS. 13 way into a lie doors of ed as those not carried icn that dc- tvhen taken K'ing lower ontly, com- i vain and Jt not until Lieutenant- reduced to Vandeleur, test equally nfortunate. of the main eared : two ring slowly, the tops of irmed men, !ts. Major )uble quick i the para- musketry, ilcs, carried )r even re- 5S the men !ss on. A ;et Stopped le point of nally, sur- f the river, enfilading fire from the guns of the citadel, at about three hundred 1807 yards' distance : they broke open a house, but it afforded no protection, the yard being surrounded by other para- peted houses, from whence an incessant and destructive fire was poured upon them ; artillery was brought against them, and a large body of troops surrounded them in a cul-dr-sacs from which either advance or retreat was im- practicable. For three hours and a half did this devoted little band protract the hopeless struggle, and not until they were nearly aimihilated, and until the firing had ceased on every other point, and until, like their com- rades under Colonel Dufl*, they had expended the last ball cartridge tliat could be found even in the pouches of their dead or dying companions, did they adopt the sad alternative of surrender. Thus ended the fatal 5th of July, 1807, the first and only occasion on which the Ekjhty-Eiohtii sustained a defeat. They had the consolation, however, of knowing, that all that men could do they had done, and of reflect- ing on many individual acts of devoted bravery highly honourable to the corps. Lieutenant Robert Nickle (late Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty-Sixth) led the advance of Brigadier-General Craufurd's division column into the town, and fell, dangerously wounded, after having given repeated proofs of cool intrepidity united with the most daring courage. Lieutenant William Mackie (now Major, and late Captain, in the Ninety-Fourth Regi- ment) was severely wounded in the thigh, but, although fainting from loss of blood, continued at the head of his men, until a second bullet struck him across the spine, and stretched him, to all appearance, dead upon the ground ; contrary to every expectation, however, though to the unfeigned delight of his comrades in arms, he survived, to gather fresh laurels in the Peninsula. Li?u- 14 KIOnTY-KUJIITII. OH \S01 tenant George llury also (listintTuishcd himself by van- quishing, in single combat, a Spanish officer of grenadiers. Serjeant-Major William Bone, for his gallant conduct on the same occasion, was recommendcnl by liieutenant- Colonel Duff for an ensigncy, to which he was promoted, and died a Captain in the Royal African regiment. When the regiment was ordered for embarkation, Cap- tain Gates, who was doing duty with the first, though in fact belonging to the second battalion, volunteered and received the permission of his Royal Highness the Duke of York to accompany the regiment ; being a supernu- merary he was attached to the Thirty-Eighth, a company of which he commanded in the attack on the Plaza de 1 oros. Some of the other divisions of the army had met with less opposition than this regiment ; the Phiza de Torox, a strong post on the enemy's right, and the Hesidennn, a good post on their left, were taken ; at the same time part of the army had gained an advanced position oppo- site the enemy's centre; but these advantages had cost two thousand five hundred men in killed, wounded, a.]d prisoners. The loss of the Eiohty-Eighth on this occasion amounted to twenty officers, and two hundred and twenty non-commissioned officers and privates killed and wounded. Officers hilled. Lieutenant Thompson Ensign M'Gregor ., Hale Assist. Surgeon Ferguson Wnunded. Major Iremonger Lieut. Adair Lieut. Bury Captain MPherson R. Nickle „ Mackie „ Dunne Gray don „ Gregg „ Chisholme Whittle Adj. Robertson „ Seton Stewart „ Peshall BuUer m : :; ' ?> *-■' C0NNAUC4IIT RANUKRS. If) f by van- jrcnadiers. 1 t conduct '■ ieutenant- ' 'fl^l promoted, :1 ent. '3 tion, Cap- though in 'ii^M tecrcd and jija^B the Duke m supernu- m i company Plaza de 1 met with 'it's lie Toros, es'uhmvin. same time tion oppo- 8 had cost nded, a.id s occasion dred and killed and gor n Ferguson Bury Mackie Gregg Robertson Oti the f'()ll<)win«j niorninjr Lieutcnant-Gcncral White- 1807 locke consented, at the instance of the Spanish commander, to desist from further hostilities, and to evacuate the place, on condition of having the captured regiments re- leased. The conduct of the Spanish towards the Eigiitv- FiioMiii, after its surrender, was marked by much kind ness, and few instances occurred of officers bein^ plun- dered. Captain M'Gregor was robbed of his gold watch by a black soldier, but recovered it again three days afterwards, upon pointing out the man to a Spanish officer. The same officer was afterwards introduced by Captain Parker Carroll, who remained in the country as one of the British hostages, to General Liniers, and in- vited by the General to breakfast. The room in which he was received was decorated with coloured drawings of the different corps of militia and volunteers which had been raised within the last few months, and whose officers appeared to be of all hues and colours, from the real jet black to the nuilatto, tawny, and even the pale mestee. The General, who entered freely into conversation with his guest, asked Captain M'Gregor what he thought of the troops by whose portraitures he was surrounded ? — receiving, of course, a complimentary answer, he replied, " Ay, it is / who have done all this for them. Those " Spaniards knew nothing of military tactics until I " arriveil amongst them." He spoke in terms of high praise of Brigadier- General Reresford, and said they were indebted to that officer for teaching them how to defend the town. On the lOth of July the Eighty-Eighth re-embarked at Buenos Ay res, and descended the River Plate to Monte Video, at which place it arrived on the 18th; on the 8th of August it sailed with the first division of the r^ iC) KKJIITY KKillTII, OH r|l III [^ 1807 nrmy for ICnglaiul, nnd, ni'Wv a todiniis and bo'iHicroiis passu;;!', made Spithcad on tlu< ^)l\\, and landed at I'ortH- nunitli on the Ntli of Novond)er, |H()7. Dnring the voyage it lost two officers liy death, liieiitenant Lawson and I'jisi^n Jackson. In Fel)ruary, |H()7, wliile the regiment was abroad engaged in ihe arduous services just detailed, its Colonel, (ieneral John Jleid,'' died, and was succeeded in the command by W. Carr IJcresford, at that time Senior Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, with the rank of Colonel in the army. Such an instance of promotion is unusual in the service at the present period, and must be considered, therefore, as highly complimentary, not only to Colonel Heresford, but also to the regiment of which he had been for so many years the acting com- mander. 1808 Soon after its arrival in England the battalion was marched into Sussex, and from thence to Ashford in Kent. From Ashford it was moved in the spring of ,. 1808 to Maldou, in Essex, where it received a draft of four hundred men from the second battalion ; this de- tachment had unfortunately contracted the ophthalmia in Hilsea barracks, and, notwithstanding all the precau- tions that were taken to prevent the contagion spreading, upwards of two hundred men were in a short time * General Reid was head of an ancient Scotch family, and served as a Lieutenant in Loudon's Hij^hlanders in 1745. In 175!) he was appointed Major of the Forty- Second, in which re- giment he continued untd 1771. In 17H0 he was appointed Colonel of the Ninety-Fifth Foot, a newly-raised regiment, and continued to command it until it was dishanded in 1783. In 1794, as stated in the text, he became (Jolonel of the Connau^ht Rangers. His commissions as a General Officer were, Major- General 19th October, 1781; Lieutenant-General 12th October, 1793; and General 1st .lanuary, 1798. O yi CONNAUUMT K ANUKKS. 17 was abroad . its Colonel, eciU'd in the time Senior the rank of promotion is (ul, and must imentary, not 10 ref^iment of le acting corn- battalion was to Ashford in I the spring of >ived a draft of Ltalion ; this de- the ophthalmia r all the precau- agion spreading, in a short time Jcotch family, ami nders in 1745. In L'conil, in which re- he was appointed lised regiment, and anded in 1783. In kI of the Connaufiht )fficer were, Major- •neral 1 2th October, afflieteil with the diHease ; nor was it until towards ()ct(»- IH()8 her that the buttahon again bccuuie quite elective. On the 'iHthof DceenilKr tht- Ki(iHTY-l"j(iiiTii sailed from Falmouth for the IVnuisula, but encountered, in the Hay of Biscay, a gale of three wteks' duration, by which the transports on board which it was embarked, were at length forced into Cork, and detained there until the "J I St of February following. While at Corii, Colonel Dutt', to the great regret both of officers anil soldiers, (juitted the regiment, in conse(|ue!>ce of the recent death of his uncle the l*iarl of Fife, and the command devolved on Major Vandeleur. The original destination of the Ekjhty-Eiciuth was 1809 Cadiz, off which city it arrived on the (kh of March, IHOU; but the Spanish Government refusing to receive .my Uritish troops into the fortress, it was ordered to Lisbon, where it landed on the Jolh, and being brigaded with the Eighty -Seventh, was marched, early in .April, to Coimbra. About this time, two of its non-commis- sioned officers, Serjeant-Major Nicholas Torrence, and Quarter-Master Serjeant William Hill, were promoted to commissions in the Portuguese army, of which the Co- hmel of the EioiiTY-Ei(iKTH (Lieutenanl-General Beres- ford) was Commander in ( hief, with the rank of Field Marshal. \Vhen the combined British and Portuguese army moved from Lisbon to the north of Portugal to expel Marshal Soult from Oporto, the Ei(iHTY-EiGHTH was one of the regiments attached to the Portuguese army under Marshal Beresford, destined to act upon the Upper Douro and in the province of Tras os Montes, and inter- cept the retreat of the F'rench. The march upon Ama- rante, the passage of the Douro, and the occupatio.j of Oporto, are justly ranked high among the many brilliant achievements of the Duke of Wellington : nevertheless, c 18 KIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR 1809 the very nature of the service in whicli the Eighty- Eighth was engaged unquestionably tended to put to severe trial the discipline of every corps employed in it. The rapidity and length of the marches ; the very unfa- vourable state of the weather ; the obstacles presented by the nature of the country in the Tras os Montes, where the men were frequently obliged to use torch-light to avoid the risk of being dashed to pieces in the craggy paths they were obliged to traverse ; the hospitality of the peasantry, who, totally ignorant of the imperious de- mands of military duty, were loud in commiserating and anxious to alleviate the hard fate of their deliverers thus compelled to march through their country in such in- clement weather, and at such unseasonable hours ; all offered temptations to straggling, which it is not at all wonderful that the men in many instances yielded to. The best-regulated army during a campaign, even if carried on under the most favourable circumstances, always becomes more or less relaxed in its discipline ; and whenit is considered that the wreck of the Eighty- Eighth regiment, after its capture at Buenos Ayres, was made up by drafts from the second battalion, that a few short months, only, were allowed it to recruit and re-organize before it was again employed in Portugal, it may be matter of regret, but certainly not of surprise, that it did not form an exception to the general rule. In fact many men were left behind, and some period of repose was necessary to remedy these irregularities, but that repose could not be obtained ; for towards the end of June the whole disposable British force was marched into Spain, and on the 27th and 28th of July was fought the battle of Talavera dk i.a Rkyna. The post of the Eighty-Eighth, on the first day, was in the wood on the river Alberche, and its conduct was much praised by Colonel Donkin, who commanded CONNAliGHT RAiNGERS. 19 ilie brigade. It retired in line under a lieavy fire, pro- 1809 tecting by its steady front the advanced troops, who were greatly out-numbered by the enemy. During the re- treat the soldiers were forbidden to fire unless they could cover their man. Corporal Thomas Kelly, of the fourth company, was the first who pulled a trigger ; going up to the Adjutant, Lieutenant Stewart, and pointing out a French officer, he said, " Do you see that officer standing " by the olive-tree in front of me ? He is a dangerous '• man, and has been giving directions to his soldiers that " won't sarve «.v; four of the company have been hit " already, but if you will allow me I think I could do for " him.'' "Try, then, Kelly," was the reply; — he fired; the French officer fell, and the men, disconcerted by the loss of their leader, ceased to harass the regiment, which continued its retreat through the wood, and took post upon a bill on the left of the allied army, which was the key of the position. The hill was steep and rugged towards the enemy, but on the other side it was of smoother ascent ; the French, however, resolved to attack this post. The sun was set, and the shades of night had gathered over the hostile armies, when suddenly a body of French troops was seen advancing boldly to the attack, and in an instant the regiments were engaged in a sharp conflict. Colonel Donkin's brigade beat the enemy in front, and the Twenty-Ninth Regiment, by a gallant charge, drove back part of the Ninth French Regiment. The enemy returned to the attack ; the fighting became vehement ; " and in the darkness the opposing flashes of " the musketry showed with what a spirit the struggle " was maintained : the combatants were scarcely twenty " yards asunder, and for a time the event seemed doubt- •ful; but soon the well-known shout of the British e 2 i m i:4 ill Safi :i;!lij M.§^ '^1 IS 1. yff il ill « 1; •20 KIGHTY KIGIITFL OR 1809 " soldier was heard, rising above the din of arms, and the " enemy's broken troops were driven once more into the "■ ravine below."* The fijihtina; now ceased; and the bivouac fires blazed up on both sides. At day -break on the 28th the combat was renewed ; a burst of artillery rattled round the height and swept away the English by whole sections ; the roar of mus- ketry succeeded, and the hill sparkled with fire. At length, unable to sustain the increasing fury of the British, and having lost above fifteen hundred men in the space of forty minutes, the French retired in disorder to their own lines. About two o'clock the enemy again advanced ; their commander "gave the signal for battle, and eighty pieces " of artillery immediately sent a tempest of bullets before " the light troops, who, coming on with the swiftness and " violence of a hail-storm, were closely followed by the " broad black columns in all the majesty of war. The " English regiments, putting the French skirmishers " aside, met the advancing columns with loud shouts, " and breaking in on their front, and lapping their flanks " with fire, and giving them no respite, pushed them " back with a terrible carnage."f The attack was, how- ever, soon renewed ; a fierce conflict raged along the whole front, and the Eigiity-Eigiitu nobly maintained its post on the hill on the left ; it had no opportunity of gaining distincticm in close fight, but displayed great steadiness in sustaining a heavy fire of artillery. The French at length relaxed their efforts, the fire of the British grew hotter, and their loud and confident shouts — sure augury of success — were heard along the whole line; finally the French retreated wiiliout venturing another attack. i ■ 1 iil i;' " Colonel NapitT. Ibid. CONNAUGIIT RANGERS. 21 The loss of the Ekjhty-Eighth in killed and wounded 1809 amounted to six officers and one hundred and thirty non- commissioned officers and privates. The officers were Captains Blake, Graydon, and Whittle, and Lieutenant M'Carthy killed ; and Captain Browne and Lieutenant Whitelaw wounded. In the movement I'pon Almaraz the Eighty-Eighth joined Prigadier-General Craufurd's brigade. In this position, very appropriately named by the soldiers ** Hungry Hill," it suffered much from the tardy and defective supply of rations ; a situation the more trying to the men from its contrast to the exuberant plenty they had recently enjoyed in the north of Portugal. Subse- quently, the regiment occupied, for some time, the town of Campo Mayor, where Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Wallace joined and took the command of the battalion, which received, also, a detachment of three hundred men from the second battalion. Advantage was immediately taken of the regiments becoming, even for a short time stationary, to commence a system of drilling necessary for the re-establishment of that discipline which, during the incessant activity of the preceding months, had un- avoidably been somewhat neglected. The task required great zeal and firmness, activity and energy ; but Lieu- tenant-Colonel Wallace showed himself fully competent to it, and had the satisfaction and honour of rendering his corps, what it afterwards was acknowledged to be, one of the finest service regiments in the Peninsular army. At Campo Mayor, also, the Eighty-Eighth set the example, which was speedily followed by other regiments, of form- ing a regimental mess; indeed, a marked friendliness and cordiality reigned throughout the corps. About this time Major Vandeleur died,* and Colonel II •,n^ !-^: f -.. If'- i' % * 1 7th October. M'Gregor. -He was succeeded by Captain Robert B. f ll i. m MI , 22 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR 1809 Donkin, who commanded the brigade, quitted the army, addressing previous to his departure a letter to Colonel Wallace, from which the following are extracts : — " The distinguished bravery of the Eighty-Eighth " Regiment at Talavera, I shall ever reflect upon with " admiration ; and this splendid quality has been set off, " first, by the utmost patience under the greatest fatigues " and privations, and latterly, by the most exemplary '* behaviour while in a state of repose. " I request you will be pleased to accept for yourself " and your gallant corps, my warmest acknowledgments " and best wishes, and convey to it my sincere assurance " that should the chance of service ever place it again " under my command, it will be one of the highest gra- "■ tifications that I can receive " Towards the end of the year (1809), the Eighty- Eighth removed from Campo Mayor, and occupied the town of Pinhel in the province of Beira : it was brigaded with the Forty-Fifth and Seventy-Fourth, under Colonel Henry Mackinnon, and formed part of the third (or what was afterwards known by the appellation of the '* fight- ing") division of the army commanded by Lieutenant- General Picton. 1810 '^'^^ advance of Marshal Massena in the summer of 1810, preceded by the proud but vain boast, that in pur- suance of the Imperial orders he would drive the English leopards into the sea, and plant the eagles of France on the towers of Lisbon ; the successes with which his first operations were attended ; the reduction one after another of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, belong to the general history of the Peninsular war, into which the particular memoirs of the Eighty-Eighth regiment must glide on to the night of the 26th of September, the eve of the battle of BusACo. On that night the combined British and Portuguese CONNAUGHT RANGERS. 23 armies were assembled in line, on the ridge of a lofty and 1810 precipitous range of hills, taking its denomination from the village and convent of Busaco. The Second divi- sion, under Lieutenant- General Hill, formed the right; the Light division, commanded by Brigadier-General Craufurd, was posted on the left near the convent ; the Third division was in the centre, while the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth occupied the intermediate spaces, and the First, together with the cavalry, were in reserve in the rear of the left. In their front, within little more than half a cannon shot distance, lay the army of Massena. The weather was calm and fine, and the dark mountains rising on either side were crowned with innumerable fires. The French were apparently all bustle and gaiety, and follow- ing their usual avocations with as much sang froid as if employed in preparing for a review, not a battle. Along the whole British line not a fire was to be seen ; the sol- diers in stern silence, examined their flints, cleaned their locks and barrels, and then stretched themselves on the ground to rest, each with his firelock within his grasp. In their rear, unsheltered by any covering but his cloak, lay their distinguished leader. During the night the French light troops, dropping by twos and threes into the lowest part of the valley, endeavoured to ascend the woody dells and hollows, and establish themselves near the British piquets. An hour before day on the 27th of September, Lord Wellington passed through the ranks on foot. He passed in comparative silence, for the English soldiers seldom indulge in those boisterous demonstrations of joy so com- mon with the troops of other nations, and indeed rarely are known to huzza, except when closing with the enemy ; but wherever he was recognised, his presence was felt as the sure presage of another victory, to be gained by the men whom he had already led in so many fields of tri- •i ■Mi i I 21 KIGIITY-EIGHTH, OR f h 1810 unipli. To be beaten when He commanded, seemed, in the opinion of his soldiers, next to impossible. As the light appeared, the fire of musketry commenced in the deep hollows which separated the two armies. Shortly afterwards two French columns, throwing forward a cloud of skirmishers, emerged from the hollow beneath. On the left, Marshal Ney advanced against the Light division under Brigadier-General Craufurd, and, in spite of the fire of the riflemen, broke through all opposition, and mounted the crest of the ridge, to remain there, how- ever, only for a moment, before the bayonets of the Forty-Third, Fifty-Second, and Ninety-Fifth drove him down again in confusion, leaviug the ground covered with dead and wounded, and the French General Simon, who led the attack, together with many other officers and soldiers, prisoners. In the mean time the left centre of the British army was assailed with equ.il impetuosity by the second corps of Massena's army under General Reynier, The dispo- sition of the Third division was as follows: — four compa- nies of the Forty-Fifth and Eighty-Eighth occupied the crest of the hill to the left ; the Seventy- Fourth was considerably to the right of these two battalions, the Eighth Portuguese a little to the right and rear, the Fifth and Eighty-Third British were to the left of all, and the Ninth and Twenty-First Portuguese on a rising ground to the right of the division. Major- General Lightburne and Colonel Mackinnon com- manded the two British Brigades, and Colonel Champel- mond the Portuguese, the whole division being under the orders of Major-General Picton. Lord Wellington, stationed on a rising ground near the Eighty-Eighth, had a full view of these dispositions. The advance of Reynier's corps was made with the impetuous rush on which the French troops so much CONN AUGHT RANGERS. 25 depend, and a crowd of sharp-shooters pressed forward in 1810 front of the Eiuhty-Eighth ; Lieutenant-Colonel Wal- lace saw he was about to be attacked by a column ; a misty cloud had settled on the mountain, and he sent Captain Dunne to observe the movements of the enemy on his right, which was a little exposed. The light troops, after a severe struggle, succeeded in driving back the enemy, but were repulsed themselves in turn. Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace with the utmost coolness, took two men from each of his battalion compa- nies, and placing them under the command of Lieutenant Mackie, reinforced the advance, and thus for some time again kept the French in check ; at length, however, they were compelled to retire before the overwhelming force that pressed upon them. The situation was in the highest degree critical, and demanded decision and cool- ness ; the French light troops were rushing on with loud shouts, closely followed by a column of infantry ; Gene- ral Picton was not within reach at the instant, and the EiGkTY-EiGHTii was without orders. At this moment Colonel Wallace addressed his men. " The time so long wished for by you and by me is at " length arrived ; you have now an opportunity of dis- " tinguishing yourselves. Be cool, be steady, but above " all, pay attention to my word of command — you know " it well. You see how these Frenchmen press on ; let " them do so ; when they reach a little nearer us I will " order you to advance to that mount — look at it lest " you might mistake what I say. Now, mind what I " tell you; when you arrive at that spot, I vill charge, " and I have now only to add, the rest must be done by " yourselves — press on them to the muzzle — I say, CoN- " NAUGHT Rangers ! press on the rascals !" This animating address was received by the men, not with shouts and hurrahs, but still better, with a deep and I :!:sl1 ■I "-■■ '2(') KKillTY-EIGIlTH, oil ^t f m lAi 1810 silent atlcntiun, indicating firmness of decisiun and earn- estness of purpose. The regiment was drawn up in line, and many men had already fallen ; the colours carried by Ensigns Joseph Owgan and William G rattan, were pierced by numerous bullets, and three of the colour-serjeants were wounded, when Captain Dunne returned, and reported to Colonel Wallace, that besides the mass in his front, which was only the advance of a column about to assail him, a body of riflemen had occupied a cluster of rocks on the right of the regiment, and the main body of the enemy was moving towards an open space which separated the Eighty-Eighth from the Forty-Fifth regiment. Cool and unruffled amongst the dangers that surrounded him, Lieutenant Colonel Wallace asked Captain Dunne if he thought half the battalion would be sufficient to do the business. " No," was the reply, " you will want every " man you can bring forward." '* Very well," said Co- lonel Wallace, " I am ready — Soldiers ; mind what 1 " have said to you — I have nothing more to add — it now " rests with yourselves." Lieutenant- Colonel Wallace then threw the battalion into column right in front, but had scarcely reached the rocks, when a murderous fire was opened upon him ; without losing his presence of mind for a moment, he filed the grenadiers and two battahon companies out of the column, ordering them to carry the rocks at all hazards, while with the remainder of the battalion he pressed on against the main body of the enemy. The Eighth Portuguese regiment had not yet opened its fire ; it was too distant : four companies of the Forty- Fifth were engaged in an unequal combat, bravely but ineffectually disputing every inch of ground with a far superior force by which they were assailed : their brave commander, Major Gwynne, had already fallen, and these CONNAUGHT RANGERS. '17 companies were on the very brink of being annihilated, 1810 when the EuiHTY-EKJHTH rushed to their assistance, and the two corps precipitated themselves into the midst of the French column, consisting of their Second, Fourth, and Thirty-Sixth regiments, and Irish brigade, ap'' 'orm- ing the advance of Reynier's division ; they received one dreadful discharge of musketry, but only one ; before a second could be thrown in, tiiey had passed through the French column, and completely overthrowing it, drove it down the mountain side with a mighty clamour and con- fusion, covering the ground with the dead and dying, even to the bottom of the valley. In the mean time, the three companies of the Eighty - Eighth which had been detached to drive the French riflemen from the rocks on the right, had been engaged in a severe and desperate struggle. In the advance they were exposed to the deliberate aim of practised marksmen ranged amphitheatrically rank above rank, and protected by the rocks of which they had just taken possession; arrived at the point of contest, both officers and men were soon engaged in a hand-to-hand fight. The French defended themselves with more than usual desperation, for they were aware that escape was out of the question, and that they had no alternative between repelling their assailants and being slain on the spot, or hurled headlong down the precipitous rocks on which they had estabfished themselves. Twenty minutes, however, sufficed to decide the question, and to teach the heroes of Marengo and Austerlitz* that, with every advantage of position on their side, they must yield to the Rangers of Con- naught. During this short but arduous conflict Captain Dansey was severely wounded, and Captain Dunne had a hair- * The French army had recently been reinforced by their vic- torious troops Irotn Germany. W. i 2S KKJIITY-KIOIITII, OR 5,1 ■«'l 1810 breadth escape of swelling the reiurn of killed. He had made a cut with his sabre at one of the French riflemen, but struck short, the man bein<;- above the reach of his weapon ; the rrenclnnan's bayonet, on the other hand, was within a few inches of Captain Dunne's breast, and his finger on the trigger ; one word was shouted by Cap- tain Dunne — it was the name of a serjeant in the regi- ment, " Bkazf.l !" He heard the call through all the din of battle, and rushing forwards, although he fell upon his face in making the lunge, buried his halberd in the Frenchman's body, and rescued his officer from certain death. Lord Wellington, who had been a near spectator of the achievements of the Eigiity-Eiuiitu, bestowed the warmest encomiums on the regiment. He galloped up to it, and taking Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace by the hand, said, " Wallace, I never sav/ a more gallant charge "than that just now made by your regiment." In his public despatches he rqieated the expressions of appro- bation which he had used during the heat of the combat, as the following extracts will show : — iM " One division of French infantry arrived at the top of the ridge, when it was attacked in the most gallant manner by the Ekjhty-Eiohth Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace." . . *' In these attacks Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace, &c. &c„ distinguished themselves." . . " I have also to men- tion in a particular manner, the conduct of Captain Dansey of the Eighty-Eighth Regiment." . . . And I beg to assure your Lordship, that I never wit- nessed a more gallant attack than that made by the Eighty-Eighth, Forty-Fifth, and Eighth Portuguese regiments, on the enemy's division which reached the ridge of the Sierra." CONNALUIIT KANOKRS. 29 The Colonel of the Ei(JiiTY-EitiiiTir, Marshal Beres- 1810 ford, joined in the praises bestowed upon his regiment, and recognised the faces of some of the veteran soldiers who had served in India, Egypt, and South America : these men crowded around him with that affectionate familiarity which the high-wrought feelings of such a moment, the sense of a community in past dangers, from which rank gave no protection, and a companionship in present safety, sometimes permitted even from the private soldier to the general. The cluster of rocks, so lately the scene of deadly conflict, presented a singular spectacle even to those whom use had familiarized with such sights. At their foot many of the Ei(niTV-Ei(iiiiTii were stretched on the field,' while in the chasms were to be seen numerous Frenchmen still in the very attitude in which death had overtaken them ; some reclining backwdrds against a crag as if asleep, others leaning forwards over a projecting stone, as in the act of firing ; while at the foot of the pre- ci|)ice, on the further side, were many who had been dashed to pieces in their vain endeavours to escape. The instances of individual bravery displayed by the officers and men of the Eighty-Eighth at Bmnco were numerous. Colonel Wallace, finding the charger on which he was mounted at the commencement of the day, was terrified by the firing, and reared frequently, at once abandoned his horse, and fought for some time on foot at the head of his men. Captain Dansey, who commanded one of the companies that attacked the rocks, and who was severely wounded, distinguished himself so as not only to obtain the immediate commendation of his Colonel and the admiration of his comrades, but was also particu- larly noticed in the despatches of the Commander-in- Chief. Lieutenant William Mackie, to whom Lieutenant I r 30 Kl(inTY.Kl(;ilTll,()ll I>SI0 Colonel Wallace confided the command of the bj'nulwm- men sent early in the day to support the li^dit infantry, displayed all the courage and coolness necessary in so critical a moment ; he was I'reciuently nearly surrounded by the enemy, but escaped unhurt, and, on rejoining the regiment, was loudly cheered by the men. Lieutenant Heppenstall, a young officer, whose first appearance under fire was on this occasion, was frecjuently mixed with the enemy's riflemen, and ^^llot two of them, one an officer. Lieutenant William Nickle, serving with the light company, was deliberately singled out by a French- man whose third shot passed through his body, but with- out killing him ; as be was proceeding to the rear the same Frenchman sent a fourth shot after him, which knocked off' his cap, cheering at the same time. " (ret " on, Nickle," said Heppenstall, " I'll stop that fellow's *' crowing/' He waited quietly till the man approached within sure distance, and then revenged his wounded comrade by shooting the Frenchman dead. Corporal Thomas Kelly, of the fourth company, (the same man who shot the French officer in the retreat through the wood near the Alberclie at Talavera,) was severely wounded in the thigh at the commencement of tbe charge against the French column, but continued to run with his company down the bill, until he fell through exhaus- tion and loss of blood . The loss of the regiment at Busaco amounted to nine officers and one hundred and twenty-four non-commis- sioned officers and privates killed and wounded. The ofFicers killed were Major Silver, Lieutenant H. John- ston, and Ensign Leonard ; the wounded, Major Mac- gregor, Captains Dansey, M'Dermot, and Bury ; and Lieutenants Fitzpatrick and Nickle. Unable to overcome the allied army in combat, the (0.\NAi;OllT HANCtKUS. ai rieiicli cominatxhr turned its flank; when Lord IRIO Wellington retired to the celebrated lines of Torre's Vkdrah, wheie he opposed a resihtance which compelled the Frencli Marshal, notwithstandinj; his superior num- hers, to relinquish his design upon Lisbon. TheLuiiiTV- LioiiTH formed part of the troops which occupied the town and lini's of Torres Vedras. 'I'he weather was tmusually wet, and the army being but indifl'trently supplied with the materials necessary for the construction of good huts, suffered much from the inclemency of the season ; yet, notwithstanding the fatigues of the severe campaign it had gone through, the unfavourableness of the weather to health, and the living principally on salted provisions, of which the rations served out to the army chiefly con- sisted, the regiment continued in the most effective state. The French, however, suffered much greater privations, and eventually they were forced to retire. On the 14th of November, Marshal Massena (Prince of Esling) left his position during the night, and took the road to Santarem. This operation was performed under cover of a dark and stormy night, and the enemy effec- tually succeeded in deceiving the British piquets f>y sub- stituting straw ficfnreny in place of his veteran tirailleurs, admirably appointed with caps and aciuMUrements, and by this rvae succeeded in effecting h)> m(»vement without loss ; verifying an old remark, that " men of straw,'* by j)utting on a good appearance. i>ften deceive their neigh- bours. The allied army moved forward ; the head-quarters were established at Cart ago, and the third division occu- pied the village of Togarro. The French commander was subsequently forced to retire from his position. In the pursuit of Massena towards the frontiers of jgn Portugal, the Third division was not much engaged with i'ii 32 KIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR I I f < 1811 the enemy, but the continual marches to turn the flanks of the French army subjected it to great fatigue. In the course of these marches and constant skirmishes, the re- giment lost a most intelligent and enterprising officer, Lieutenant Heppenstall, already mentioned ; he fell in the action of Foz-d'Auonce, on the ir)th of March, 1811. He was buried at the foot of a pine, near the spot where he fell, under the direction of Dr. Arthur Stewart. In the action at SnbvgaJ, the Eighty-Eighth, though present, was not actually engaged, a severe storm of snow and hail, which fell just at the moment the Third division, having issued from the woods on the enemy's right, was about to charge, completely hiding the French corps (General Reynier's) from view, and giving its commander an opportunity of retiring unattacked. On the first two days of Fiienfcx (VOnor, it was in po- sition, but on the third and decisive day of that glorious battle it had a brilliant opportunity of distinguishing itself, and earning another honorary inscription for its colours. The village of Ftirntes dOttor, which is situated on some low ground, with an old chapel and a, few buildings on a craggy eminence at one end, had been the scene of a long, protracted, and sanguinary contest on the 3rd of May ; the lower part of the village had been several times taken and retaken, and during the night each army occupied that part of the village which had re- mained in its possession when darkness and mutual ex- haustion put a temporary stop to the battle. The .fol- lowing day was wholly passed in reconnoitering and manoeuvres ; the British force in Fuentes d'Onor was considerably reinforced from the First division, and amongst other regiments sent to aid in its defence were the Seventy-First and Seventy-Ninth. Soon after day- break on the 5th, the attack was recommenced by the CONNAUGHT RANGERS. 33 French with increased numbers and renewed fury. Lord 1811 WeUington observing the serious efforts of Massena upon this point, and fully appreciating its importance, ordered the Twenty-Fourth, Forty-Fifth, Seventy-Fourth, and Eighty-Eighth British, together with the Ninth and Twenty-First Portuguese regiments, to its support. It was now about half-past twelve o'clock ; the combat in the village had lasted without intermission for eiglit hours during a day of oppressive heat, and our ammuni- tion was nearly expended. The Highlanders were driven to the church-yard at the top of the town, where they were fighting with the French grenadiers over the tomb-stones and graves, while i;he Ninth French light infantry had penetrated as far as the chapel, only a short distance from our line, and were preparing to debouche upon our centre. Lord Wellington was on the spot, and surveyed what was passing with the immovable coolness which always characterized him ; the troops in the town were nearly worn out in the contest and about to retire, when the Ehjhty-Eighth was ordered to their support, and changed the face of affairs. Colonel the Honourable Edward Pakenham, who was in the hottest of the fire, had inquired what regiments were in reserve ; and when the Eighty-Eighth was named amongst others, asked, " Is Wallace with the Eighty-ICighth ?" and on being replied to in the affirmative, said, *' Tell him to come *' down then, and drive these fellows back ; he will do " the thing properly." The battalion was ordered to advance in column of sections, left in front, in double-quick time. As it passed down the road leading to the chapel it was warmly cheered by the troops lying at each side the wall, but the soldiers gave no cheer, no reply ; they were placed, and they felt it, in a situation of great distinction ; they were i ' H I! !:(t.J m .34 KIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR 1811 about to fight not only under the eye of their own gene- ral and his army, but in full view, also, of the French army ; their feelings were wound up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, but there was no huzzaing, no noise, or talking in the ranks; the men, headed by their brave Colonel, stepped together at a smart pace under a very heavy fire of artillery and musketry, as steady and as silent as if on parade. The company which led this attack was commanded by Ensign William Grattan. When thev came within sight of the French Ninth regi- ment, which was drawn up at the corner of the chapel ready to receive them, he turned round to observe the state of his men ; the soldiers understood his look and action, and replied to it by a cheer, the first they had given, and which, so given, showed plainly that their hearts were in a right state. The enemy had .not remained idle spectators of this movement ; a battery of eight pounders advanced at a gallop on the opposite side of the river, and opened a heavy fire on the Eighty-Eighth, hoping to annihilate it, or at least to check its progress and cripple its efforts, but the battalion, regardless of the grape which was showered upon it, continued to press on, and, in fact, suffered but slightly from the cannonade to which it was exposed. Arrived within a few yards of the chapel they were met by the Ninth French regiment, supported by some hundreds of the Imperial Guard, who rushed on with their usual impetuosity and bravery, uttering loud shouts and throwing in their fire as they advanced ; the Eighty-Eighth replied with the bayonet, and rapidly closing with their enemies, so totally overthrew them, that they were not able to rally afterwards. The ex- hausted but brave troops ihat had been so seriously engaged all the morning, now joined in the pursuit, and CONNAUGUT RANGERS. 35 in less than fifteen minutes from the time the Eighty- 181 1 Eighth commenced its attack there was not a French combatant in the village : their whole force was driven across the rivulet, f»nd many of the British in their pur- suit fell on the French side of the stream. About one hundred and fifty of the Old French Guard in their flight ran down a street which was one of the few that had escaped the fury of the morning attack, and the further end of which, (unknown to them, had been barri- caded by our troops the night before. Shut up thus in a complete cul-de-sac, the result may be easily imagined ; — it was a frightful slaughter, but it was unavoidable. Troops advancing to assault a town, flushed, indeed, with victory, but uncertain whether that victory may not be wrenched the next minute from their grasp, have no time to deliberate. Some of the French Guard sought a vain refuge 1' hurstint^ ' the houses and ascending the chimneys, but their en '^ . vere too close at their heels for them to succeed. This attack was headed by Lieu- tenant George Johnston, who, not satisfied with clearing one street, immediately proceeded to the next, where the enemy still made a show of resistance, and at length car- ried away by feelings very natural at such a moment, he climbed up to the top of a stone cross, erected in a square at the river's edge, and taking off his hat waved it in de- fiance towards the enemy. The French, however, made no further eflfbrt to recover the place, but confined them- selves to a heavy cannonade which they continued to pour into the streets, utterly regardless of its murderous effects upon their own wounded. From this cannonade the men of the Eighty-Eighth were ordered by Colonel the Honourable Edward Pakenham to shelter themselves, when they took a position behind a wall in the rear of the chaptl, and soon afterwards evacuated the town, d2 t r 30 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR 1811 which was occupied by tie light division under Brigadier- General Robert Craufurd. When the Eighty-Eighth was ordered by Colonel Mackinnon to resume its place in brigade, the enemy's fire had ceased, but as soon as they were seen in motion, it recommenced with dou' ■? fury ; the wall was knocked down in several places, cind one round shot passed be- tween Colonel Pakenham and Lieutenant- Colonel Wal- lace, who were on horseback close to each other. It car- ried away the top of the wall, one of the stones striking Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace on the head and knocking his hat off, but doing him no further injury, though, for the moment, his men believed he had been killed. The regiment then quitted the place by companies in file as the safest way to avoid the effects of the cannonade : the companies returned, left in front. Colonel Pakenham, with his hat shot throughthe leaf, and his hand wrapped wp in a pocket handkerchief, called out to Ensign Grattan as he passed at the head of the foremost company, to know where he was going, and why he left the village. Being told that it was in consequence of orders from Colonel Mackinnon, Colonel Pakenham replied, " I did "not observe your vinnber. Do a^ you are directed ; " yu'T regiment has done enough for this day ; but you " may tell whatever troops you meet, that each man may '• as well bring a keg of ammunition under his arm, for " those rascals shall never get possession of the town as " long as I have life." By four o'clock in the afternoon the regiment had joined its brigade. The conduct of the Eighty-Ehjhth at Fuentes dOnor (as at Busaco) obtained the particular notice of Lord Wellington, who, in his despatch containing the account of that battle, says, *' On one of these occasions, the " Eicmty-Efghth, with the Seventy-First and Seventy- i.ii^ CON NAUGHT RANGERS. 37 ** Ninth, under the command of Colonel Mackinnon, 1811 " charged the enemy, ) )d drove them through the vil- " lage. Colonel Mackinnon has reported particularly " the conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace and Lieu- " tenant and Adjutant Stewart of the Eighty-Eighth '' regiment." The loss of the regiment was not so great as might have been expected from the brilliancy and seriousness of the affair in which it had been engaged. This com- paratively small loss is to be attributed to the great steadiness and regularity of the men in their different attacks, and to the rapidity with which, on all occasions, they closed with their adversaries. Only one officer, Captain Irwin, was killed, and four wounded, viz. Lieu- tenants Stewart, Macalpin, and Halket, and Ensign Owgan. Of non-commissioned officers and privates, seven were killed and fifty-three wounded. For a few days after the battle of Fuentes d'Onor, the EioiiTY-EuJiiTii occupied the village of Navez de Aver, and was then ordered to the south to join the forces en- gaged in the siege of Badajoz. No opportunity occurred during this siege for the regiment to distinguish itself as a body, but many detached instances of intrepidity were displayed by the men as circumstances gave them an op- portunity. Amongst others, on the day before the first assault on St. Christoval (the 5th of June), Private Ed- mund Man, of the grenadier company, was employed in repairing a damaged embrasure in one of the batteries aeainst the castle. He was sitting outside the embra- sure, pegging in a fascine, when Colonel Fletcher, the commanding engineer, who, though fearless of any danger as far as regarded himself, was particularly tenacious of allowing the soldiers to expose themselves unnecessarily, called to him, " Come in, my rine fellow, and you will do n i (il: if r -ii ■I 38 KIGHTY-KIGHTH, OR 1811 *' your work as well, or nearly so at all events." " It's " hardly worth while, Colonel," replied Man, *' I am just " finished, and they cannot hit me, for they have been ♦* trying it hard this quarter of an hour." The words were scarcely out of the brave fellow's mouth, when a round shot cut him in two, the French cannoniers cheer- ing loudly at the same time at the accuracy of their practice. When the siege of Badajoz was raised in the month of June, the Eighty-Eighth proceeded to quarters in Campo Mayor, where the second battalion, which had joined the army on the advance from the lines of Torres Vedras, was drafted into the first, making it a fine effec- tive corps, numbering upwards of one thousand bayonets. The staff of the second battalion then returned to Eng- land to recruit. In the autumn of this year the regiment was selected to support the outposts of the army against the attacks of the French garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo, and was can- toned in the villages of El Bodon, La Encina, and Pas- tores. The French had been in the habit of plundering the country around, and successful in several of their excursions previous to the arrival of the Eiohtv-Ekshth. A few nights after the regiment occupied Pastores, its outposts were attempted by a. party from the garrison, which was immediately repulsed with loss, and its com- mander killed on the spot by Corporal John Walsh of the light infantry company. It was the first and also the last attempt the enemy made on the Eighty-Eighth during its stay in the neighbourhood. The blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo was completed on the 5th of September, and preparations for the siege commenced, when the junction of Marshal Marmont and Count Dorsenne obliged Lord Wellington to abandon CONNAUGHT RANUKRS. 39 the design for a time. On the 25111 of the same 1811 month, the tiiird division was attacked at El Bodon by General Montbrun, and fell back upon Fuente Guinaldo, in good order and with little loss, although the distance was eight miles, and the retreat was made in the face of a powerful artillery and cavalry force. The Eighty- Eighth suffered but slightly in this affair, and occupied for its winter-quarters, or rather quarters of repose, the village of Aldea da Ponte. In the depth of the ensuing v/inter the army was sud- 1812 denly called from its cantonments to the siege of Ciudad liodrigo, the investment of which fortress was effected on the 8th of January, 181J. The service of the trenches was carried on by the first, third, fourth, and light divi- sions alternately, each taking the duty for four-and-twenty hours. The weather was severe, and the troops without covering, but the men were in high health and spirits, and the siege was prosecuted with so much vigour, that on the 19th of the same month, two practicable breaches having been made in the body of the place. Lord Wel- lington determined to carry it by storm. 'llie third and light divisions had the honour to be selected for this service ; the latter was directed to attack the left or smaller breach, while the assault of the grand breach was confided to the former. The fourth division was in reserve. It was half-past six in the evening when the orders for storming the town arrived ; Colonel Wal- lace was aloent from the army on account of ill-health, and the command of the Eighty-Eighth devolved upon Major Thompson. A few minutes before the brigade was formed for the attack, Major-General Mackinnon sent for Major Thompson, and told him, he wished the forlorn hope to be led by a subaltern officer of the Eighty- Eighth ; adding, that in the event of such officer sur- S?.' rn 'l^^ 10 I;IHKT)^K1GHTH,()R 1812 viving, he should be recommended for, and as a matter of course would obtain, a company. Major Thompson felt the distinguished compliment to the EuiUTY-EuJUTW which this intimation of the General's wish conveyed, and calling his officers together, informed them of it. Lieutenant William Mackie, then xettmr-lieittenaut, in- stantly stepped forward, and dropping his sword, said, " Major, I am ready for that service." " Go then,"" replied the Major, taking him by the hand, " Go, and God bless you !" The soldiers, who were close at hand, heard what passed, and some difficulty arose in selecting, out of the numbers who pressed forward claiming on some pretence or other the preference in danger, the twenty to which the Forlorn Hope was limited. The se- lection, however, was quickly made from the company which Lieutenant Mackie commanded. The regiment was formed in sections, right in front, and everything in readiness to obey the signal gun for the advance, when Lieutenant-General Picton and Major- Generai Mackinnon appeared accompanied by their staff. Long harangues are seldom made to British soldiers, and in the present instance Lieutenant-General Picton's words were few, but at the same time too animating, and too characteristic of himself, not to be recorded verbatim. They were, " Rangers of Connaught! It is not my " intention to expend any powder this evening : we will *' do this business with the cold iron." The troops then entered the trenches with Major-Ge- neral Mackinnon at their head ; on leaving the approaches they advanced rapidly over the rugged ground leading to the breach, many of the men carrying bags filled with grass to throw into the ditch and break the descent. Ar- rived at the foot of the breach they speedily mounted, but met with a very gallant resistance, and many men JM CONNAUGHT RANGERS. 41 and officers fell : amongst the latter was the commander 1812 of the Brigade, Major-General Mackinnon, who was killed with many others by an explosion of gunpowder in the moment of victory. On each side the breach was a twenty-four pounder, every discharge from which swept it with a raking fire. Major Thompson of the Seventy-Fourth (acting engineer), observing the destruc- ti(m occasioned by these guns, ordered the few men who were next at hand to storm the one on the left ; the nearest men happened to be three of the Eighty- JiioHTH, ])razel, who saved Captain Dunne's life at Busaco, Kelly and Swan, xieneath them and the gun was a deep re- trenchment, which would have rendered it impossible for them to reach it in time to anticipate its next fatal dis- charge, if they were encumbered with their firelocks. Without a moment's hesitation they threw aside the heavier weapon, and armed only with their bayonets, leaped the interposing barrier, rushed up to the muzzle of the piece, and after a short but terrific combat (in which Swan lost his arm by the stroke of a sabre) put all the French cannoniers to death and silenced the gun. The troops on the breach were now safe from the havock which had a few minutes before been so fatal to their comrades, and in half an hour the town was carried. Lieutenant Mackie, guided by the fugitives of the garrison, was the first to arrive with his party at the gates of the citadel, where the enemy inquired for a Ge- neral Officer to receive their surrender. The Lieutenant being a Grenadier officer, pointed to his epaulettes as a guarantee of their safety in surrendering to him, and the gate was immediately opened. The officer com- manding the advance of the light division coming up at the moment, the governor and his staff were conducted to Lord Wellington, who had by this time reached the riunparts. 1 ! ' ! •. If!:*.- 42 EIOIITY-KIOHTU, OR \i 1812 Lieutenant Paris was engajred during the assault in a desperate hand-to-liand conflict. Two French grena- diers, observing him fur in advance of his men, attacked him. One fired and immediately ran away, his bullet passing through the Lieutenant's coat ; the other then fired, wounded him slightly in the thigh, and immediately closed upon him with the bayonet, making a thrust at the body, wluch Lieutenant Faris parried with his sabre, but received a severe wound in the leg ; a personal struggle then took place, from which Lieutenant F. at length succeeded in disengaging himself, and killed his adversary by a sabre cut on the head. By this time he was completely exhausted, and was obliged to be carried into the next house. His wounds, however, though severe, were neither of them dangerous, and he soon recovered. The loss of the Eir.HTv-PiUiHTu before Ciudad Rod- r/'go was one ofticer, Lieutenant Beresford, and twenty rank and file killed ; four Lieutenants, Flack, Arm- strong, Johnston, and W. Kingsmill, two Serjeants, and fifty-four rank and file wounded. Lord Wellington in his desputches notices the third division and this regi- ment in the following words ; — " The conduct of all parts of the Third Division in " these operations, which they performed with so much " gallantry and exactness on the evening of the lUth in " the dark, affords the strongest proofs of the abilities " of Lieutenant-General Picton and Major-General " Mackinnon, &c." And again : " It is but justice to " the third division, to report that the men who per- " formed the sap belonged to the Forty-Fifth, Seventy- " Fourth, and Eighty-Eighth Regiments." After the reduction of Ciudad llodrigo, the regiment CON NAUGHT RANGERS. 4:\ occupied the villnge of Albergeria until tlic middle of 1 February, when it marched towards the South to join the forces in Alentejo, and act against the fortress of lia- dajoz. In this siege the duty of the trenches was per- formed by the third, fourtii, and sixth divisions, about sixteen thousand strong, wliile the French garrison amounted to six thousand. The pb'-o was invested on the lOtli of March, and the trenches opened the same night. On the night of the lUth the garr'son made a sortie with two thousand men against the right of tlie trenches with great gallantry, and at first with consider- able success, but were finally driven back to the town with loss. In that part of the British line which faced the advanced fort called La Picurina, were two batteries in a forward state, occupied by a party of the Forty- Fifth and Eighty-Eighth, under the command of Cap- tain riogan of the Eighty-Kighth. The trenches were in such a state from the rain which had fallen almost incessantly from the commencement of the siege, that the working parties were up to their knees in water, and it was deemed right to keep the covering troops as much as possible out of the wet ground. About half an hour before the usual time of relieving the guard of the trenches. Ensigns Darcy and Grattan of the Eighty- Eighth, although the smoke of the French bat ^ries combined with a heavy fog rendered it impossible to dis- tinguish objects at any distance, thought they observed symptoms of the enemy's meditating a sortie from the Picurina Fort. Without waiting for orders, they in- stantly directed the working party to throw down their tools and resume their arms ; in the next moment, and before many of the men were in readiness to act, the French made a rush at the battery No. 2, but were re- ceived at the point of the bayonet, by the few assembled 812 I M f i t ^ i i'tl 1; S - « .r ■^1 .w. ^ 1 "iS' , > II KI(inTYKI(niTII.(M{ 1812 men of the Forty- Filth and Fuiin v-KuaiTii, nml tliiM the auiiiiK'ss ami ])resoiKe of iiiiiul of two yoiiDg oHlcers, and the finntit-ss of u luuulfiil «)f brave men, preserved the half (inisiied works fron> dt ^truction. Some of the Holdiers pursued the repulsed enemy as far as the glacis of the town, and two privates of the Ei(inTV-FniiiTM, Kelly of the fourth company (wlu)lias been already men- tioned for his euiiduet at 'J'alavera, Husaco, and Ciudad J{odri«n)) and MGowan of the grenadiers particularly distiniruislied themselves. On the '2 llh the regiment lost one Lieutenant (North) killed, and had another Lieutenant (Stewart) wounded, by the fire of the place. On the evening of the '2M\ it was determined to storm the Picurina redoubt; live hun- dred men of the third division were ordered upon that duty, and amongst them a detachment of the Eujhty- EiuuTH, commanded by Captain Oates and Lieutenant George Johnston. The latter officer was a volunteer; it was not his tour of duty in the trenches, and he still carried his arm in a slitig from the effects of his wound at ('iudad Hodrigo; but the moment be heard that Cap- tain Oates, who was the Captain of bis company, was to be of the storming party, be determined to join him. The first attack was made at the gorge of the redoubt, but the defences were too strong and the resistance too obstinate even for troops accustomed to victory ; repulsed there, however, and with severe loss, they did not aban- don the attack in despair; gliding round the flanks ajid faces of the work, they sought for, and at length obtained, an entry by scaling the ramparts. In one of these at- tempts the ladders proving too short, Captain Oates ob- serving that the ditch though very deep was narrow, called out, " Come, boys, though the ladders are too short " to mount up the ditch, let us try our hand with them \ » {;-'■;' ' (:()N?J\IJ(M1T RANGKKS. 45 •• across it." In a few minutes throe ladders were pitched iai'2 from the glacis into the mouth of un emlirasure, and ucn)SH tlieni, in spite of u severe (ire (»f nuisktiry and grape. Captain Oates led the way into the redoubt; here he soon fell, disabled by a severe wound, and Lieutenant Johnston was killed within a few paces of him ; in fact, of fifteen officers who were with the party not one escaped unhurt. During the further progress of the siefje, the regiment lost a field-ollicer, Major Thompson, who was killed in the trenches on the night of the 2Hth, and on the same night Hrevet Major Murphy was wounded. In the final assault on the (Uh of Afiril, the escalade of the castle was the duty allotted to the third division. Lieutenant Whitelaw of the EiOMTV-l^iKinrH volunteered to lead the advance of twenty men, but less fortunate than In's brother officer, Lieutenant Mackie, at Ciudad llodrigo, fell at the moment of victory ; (Captain Lindsay of the EKiHTY-Eicnrit was also killed while in the act of rai.sinfj a ladder for his company to escalade the castle wall ; three other Lieutenants were killed (Mansfield, Cotton, and Macalpine) ; and one Captain (Peshall) and four Lieutenants (Faris, Armstrong, Davern, and Grattan) wounded. Mr. Thomas Martin, eldest son of Richard Martin, Esq., many years M.P. for Galway, who had joined the regiment as a volunteer soon after the opening of the trenches and accompanied the grenadiers in the assault, was also wounded in the shoulder. The total loss of the regiment before Badajoz, during the sieges in June, 1811, and in March and April, 1812, amounted to eight ofMcers, five Serjeants, and forty-two rank and file killed ; and eight officers, ten Serjeants, and one hun- dred and sixty-six rank and file wounded. After the fall of Bnddjoz, the regiment returned to the H 46 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR t '■■It *• ■I I. i i , :<.. ■ *' >';■ ; ■ ' 1812 frontiers of Beira, where it remained till the army again took the field in June. At the battle of Salamanca, (22nd July) the Eigeitv-Eighth, together with the Forty-Fifth and Seventy-Fourth, formed the right brigade of the third division, which was posted on the right of the army, opposite to the Seventh French divi- sion, under General Bonnet. Lieutenant-General Picton being at this time absent from the field on account of ill- health, the division was commanded by Major-General the Honourable Edward Pakenham, the brigade by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Wallace of the Eighty- Eighth, and the Eighty-Eighth itself by Major Seton, who had succeeded to that rank upon the death of Major Thompson in the trenches at Badajoz. It was five in the afternoon, when Lord Wellington rode up and de- sired Major-General the Hon. E. Pakenham to move the third division forward, and carry the heights and guns in his front. The division was at this time formed in open column, right in front, facing a hill behind which the French were posted, and on which were erected two batteries. The colours were just uncased, and the bayo- nets fixed, when Lieutenant- Colonel Wallace addressed a few animating words to the men, explaining their situa- tion, and cautioning them to be aware of the enemy's cavalry, which was watching them closely, and hanging on their flank : to the oflicers he said, " Gentlemen, the " regiment is on this day, as it generally is on such " occasions, tolerably strong, and (pointing to the bat- " teries which crowned the hill in front) we are likely to " have a good deal of noise about our ears. I would re- '* commend you to place yourselves in the centre and front " of your companies, which will prevent any mistake." The brigade now moved forward in one column, the Forty-Fifth leading, followed immediately by the Eighty- CON NAUGHT RANGERS. \7 Eighth; the enemy opened a heavy fire from fourteen 1812 guns, which was replied to by a brigade of nine-pounders firing over the lieads of the advancing column. When the smoke cleared away. Bonnet's division was perceived advancing rapidly round the face of the hill, as if deter- mined to anticipate attack ; Major-General Pakenham now rode up to Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace and ordered him to wheel the brigade into line without halting, a manoeuvre which evidently disconcerted the enemy, who nevertheless continued to advance with drums beatine and keeping up a heavy fire of musketry. In spite of the enemy's fusillade. Major-General Pakenham, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Wallace, and Majors Seton and Murphy, remained at the head of the Eighty-Eighth, which formed the centre of the brigade, and continued to ad- vance steadily in line with firelocks on the rest. As the British advanced, the fire of the enemy slackened, and they seemed inclined to give way, when several of their officers advanced in front to animate the men, and one officer of the Twenty-Second, (the leading regiment of the French column,) seizing a firelock, ran out in front of his men and shot Major Murphy of the Eighty- Eighth through the heart. At the same moment a ball struck the pole of the King's colour, cutting it nearly in two, and taking the epaulette off* the shoulder of Lieu- tenant D'Arcy who carried it. The men now, for the first time, became impatient, and called out for revenge ; Major-General Pakenham cheered, and desired Lieu- tenant-Colonel Wallace to let them loose ; the men rushed into the midst of the fire, and a close and desperate, but short, conflict took place. 'JMie deep and ponderous column, so formidable in attack, was now completely overthrown, and at the mercy of its assailants ; many of the French were killed and wounded, and the broken 48 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR U;:i> 1812 column pursued for about a quarter of a mile through an extensive but thinly-planted wood of cork-trees. At this moment a shout in the rear caused the pursuers to expect to have a charge of French cavalry to repel, but they were agreeably disappointed by having Major- General Le Marchant's brigade of heavy cavalry to greet, instead of a fresh enemy to resist. The French could not withstand this new attack, and the whole column, originally seven thousand strong, was cut to pieces or captured, together with two eagles and eleven pieces of cannon. Owing to the previous casualties at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, only four Captains were present with the regiment at Salamanca, and of these, one (Captain Mackie) acted as Aide-de-Camp to liieutenant-Colonel Wallace, and when the heavy brigade charged, joined them in the attack. Two others (Murphy, brevet-major, and Hogan) were killed, and the fourth (Captain Adair) so severely wounded, as to survive the effects only a few months. Captain Tryon of the Eighty-Eighth, D.A.A.G., was likewise severely wounded. The Eighty- Eighth had also four Lieutenants (Meade, Nickle, Grattan, and Kingsmill) wounded ; one serjeant and eighteen rank and file killed, and one serjeant and one hundred and nine rank and file wounded ; the total of casualties amounting to seven officers and one hundred and twenty-nine non-commissioned officers and privates. After the battle of Salamanca the Eighty-Eighth formed part of the corps which < cupied Madrid during liord AVellington's march to Burgos, and on the evacua- tion of that capital in October following, returned to ([uarters in Portugal, where it received a strong detach- ment of the Second battalion, which again raised its effective strength to near one thousand rank and file. ■.»■►" ■ CONNALWHT RANGERS. .49 For the first time, also, since its arrival in the Peninsula, 1812 it was furnished with tents in common with the other regiments. On the IGthof i\Iay, 1813, the Eiguty-Eiohth broke 1813 up from its cantonments at I^eomel, and joined in the general advance of the army into Spain, under the com- mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Macphei son. In the course of the march an accident occurred both annoying and prejudicial to the regiment. In order to facilitate the movements of the army, to lender the column of march less encumbered, and to lessen the fatigue of the troops, it was customary, when not in the presence of the enemy, to proceed either by brigades or single corps: Major- General Sir Thomas Brisbane's brigade, of which the Eighty-Eighth formed part, moved by regiments. The Eighty-Eighth, on the route from Leomel to St. Jean de Pasquera, arrived at a spt where the road branched off in different directions, one leading to its proper point of destination, the other descending into the steep and precipitous country which forms the left bank of the Douro. By some unaccountable ignorance or misconception on the part of its guide, the regiment took the wrong road, and after struggling for some time through a series of rugged defiles, found itself at a late hour in the evening embedded in the mountains, and as distant from St. Jean de Pasquera as it had been when starting from its cantonments at Leomel. Some men died of the heat and fatigue, but the e.sprit de corps sustained the regiment through the long and severe forced march, across a country deeply intersected with ravines, thickly covered with gum cistus, and traversable only by goat-paths, by which it rejoined its division. On the 27th of May the regiment entered Spain, and on the 20th of June, it was posted near the river Bayas, ■>o KIGHTY-KKtHTH, OU- iftiVi^t^ , 1813 when dispositions were made for attacking the enemy in his position in front of Vittoria. The troops were under arms an hour before dayhght on the 21st, and the third and sevcntli divisions were destined to attack the enemy's centre ; but the French, having weakened their centre to support tlicir flanks, which were first attacked, the centre column of the allied army did not meet with serious opposition. lu front of the EiGHTY-EioHTii the enemy occupied a hill of con- siderable elevation, from which he was forced by that regiment, while the Forty-Fifth and Seventy-Fourth made flank movements round its base, the French retiring to a second hill in the rear of their former position. The Ei(iHTY-Ei(;HTH, which had hitherto been in column, now deployed into line, and notwithstanding a heavy fire of musketry and artillery, continued to advance, till ihe enemy having rallied and brought up fresh troops, there was a momentary halt by order of Sir l^homas Brisbane; who commanded the brigade. At this instant Lieu- tenant- General Sir Thomas Picton coming up, and feel- ing displeased at the halt, made use of some harsh ex- pressions to the Eighty Eighth as the leading corps, which led to an immediate explanation from Sir Thomas Brisbane, when the regiment again moved forward and headed the brigade in the attack upon the town of Vit- toria. During the day the Eighty-Eighth charged several times, but the enemy never waited to receive them, and it was generally observed among the soldiers, that io far as this regiment was concerned, King Joseph's army at Vitioria proved decidedly the worst fig' t ',;;.': army they had encountered. The loss of the regiment at Vittoria was one officer. Ensign Saunders, and thirty rank and file killed ; four officers, Captain M'Dermott, and Lieutenants Flooil. CONNALGHT RANGERS. >I Fitzpatrick, and Faris; two serjeants. and one hundred 1813 and ninety -five rank and file wounded ; in all, two hun- dred and tiiirty-cwo. The expressions used by Sir Thomas Picton became afterwards the subject of ren'onstrance, and even of a memorial to the Duke of Wellington. The result was that, after due explanations, a letter sati.sfactory to the regiment was addressed by Sir Ihom.is Picton to Sir Thomas Brisbane, as Commander of the brigade, declar- ing that, after the many instances of gallantry he had witnessed in the Eighty-Eighth, it could never have been his intention to cast any reflections on that corps, by words uttered in a moment of irritation, and adding, that his divisional order after the battle should be re- ceived as a suflicicnt proof of this. The following is an extract of that order :-- Dirisioii Orders, 2^rd Ju//e, 1813 " IJeutcnant-General Sir Thomas Picton congratulates Major-General the Honourable Sir C. Colville, Major- General Brisbane, and Major-General Power, upon the conspicuous services rendered by the brigades under their several commands towards the brilliant success of the 21st of June instant. He requests to assure the commanding officers, officers, non-commissioneil officers and men of their corps and regiments, that their con- " duct did not fail to excite his warm admiration, and to " increase the confidence he has always felt in the com- " mand of the third divisir)n," Pec. On the 28t,h of July, two companies of the Eighty- Eighth had an opportunity of earning distinc^'ei for themselves and their corps under the immediate eye of the whole third division, as v.; 11 is of a strong and select body of the French. The attempt of Marshal Soult to ton's army shoitly after the battle of Vittoria, and the scries of actions which took place between the covering army and that of Soult in the passes of the Pyrenees between the; -.)tii and 30th of July, which ended in the complete repulse of the French, gave rise to the display of nritish valour with a splendour never exceeded in the annals of war. The allied army was posted immediately in front of Pampeluna, the right in front of the village of Huarle, the third divi.ion being to the right, and those of Lieutenant-((ei!»Tul C(!le, and INIajor General the Ho- nourable 10. Fa'.i.nliau!, (f);,'().)ier with the Spaniards, to the left. The n);i"n eTovt^ of Soull during the day were directed against tlicai!ii.il u ';, Viutaixtut five in the afternoon, some of his Mrailiei.r.- were pushed forward as if to feel the countonaiice or' tlie third division, and ascertain whether its position would be seriou^.ly defended or (lot. The light c(jmj)any of the Ejghtv-Ekjijtii, commanded by C'apt.iiu Robert Nickle (late Lieutenant- ColoMti of the Thirty .Sixth Foot) was ordered to drive them back, which it speedily accomplished : a select body of French, headed by an ofiicer of the staff, who had vo- lunteered for ihat service, now advanced to support the repulsed tirailleurs, and two battalion companies of the Eight v-EiGin II hurried to the assistance of their com- rades. The skirn)isii. fou<;ht in siffht of the two armies, took almost the type of a national trial of skill and cour- age; the French rushed forward with their characteristic impetuosity, shouting " Vive i'Einpeivur;'' the Con- naught r?ANGLRS, accompanied by the cheers of their di- vision, me. them with the bayonet, and overthrew them at t!ie tlrst onset. The French commanding officer was left on the field mortally \,ounded ; (,'aptain Nickle, as r 1^ ;>'- i tf r CONNAU(iHT RAiNGKHS. 5:i soon as the conflict was decided, went up to render any 1813 assistance in his power to his fallen antagonist, and, find- ing him already dead, tied his handkerchief on the point of his sabre, and waving it towards the retreating French, beokoni d to them to return for the body of their officer, which • h( y did, and carried him oft' to render the last ht>r )ur,« t-., 'AS remains. Dur'ni;.; the movements of the succeeding day, when tiie alHed army resumed the oflf'ensive, a heavy column of French infintry was routed by Major-General lirisbane's biigaiie, a. id the greater part made prisoners by the Forty- Fifth, Seventy-Fourth, and Eiohty-Eujhth. A'lCr thin the third division re-occupied the pass of llon- cesvalles, where it remained till the 8th of August, when Major-General Brisbane's brigade was relieved by Colonel Downies brigade of Spaniards, and proceeded by the valley of Los Alduides to tlie pass of Maya. On the 31st of August the whole of the third division crossed the frontiers of France, and Major-General Bris- bane's brigade occupied the pass of Echalar, replacing there the Seventh division, which had proceeded to rein- force the troops before St. Sehastian ; on llie 4th, how- ever, it returned to the pass of Maya, and on the 15th resumed its old position near the village of Erisoun, and remained in the valley of Bastan till the 7tli of October, when, in consequence of the left of the army having crossed the Bidass^.i and entered France, the Eiguty- EKiiiTu and the rest of the division moved to the village of Zagarramundi to the right and in front of the pass of Echalar. During this interval (*.)th of September, 1813) Lieu- tenant-Colonel Tayloi' j.ined u;'- regiment, and super- seded Lieutc . uit C< ' ,1 Macpherson -n the command. ^« ¥ m -\ 51 KIGIITY KIGHTII. OR 1813 The colours of the Ei(iHTY-Ei(aiTii Ix-ar testimony that it had its share on the lOth of November, in tlie storming of the formidable lines which the French had erected on the river Nivi'lle, and in the various actions which took place on the banks of the Nivc, between the Oth and 13th of December; but on neither of these oc- casions had it the good fortune to come into actual con- tact with the enemy. On the 1 7th of December it went into cantonments in the village of Urcuray, situated on the high road leading from Hayonne to St. Jean Pietl do Port, and the adjacent hamlets, where it remained till the army again moved forward in February follovving. 1814 In the battle of ()rlh(\s>'lHi\\ of February 1814, the third division was directed to attack the heights on which the enemy's centre and left stood, and the Kioii'iv- EiGHiH had once more an opportunity of dislinguishmg itself, when its loss was more severe than on any other occasion, except the siege of Badajoz. The Fifty - Second led the attack ; the Ei(jHTv-Eiirrii did not go unnoticed or unrewarded ; their reward w is exemption fronj the painful duty of heing present when the extreme sentence of martial law was executed nj)on deserters from other regiments. 'I'he fol- lowing is a copy of the brigade order on one occasion of the kind, more than *iine months after the arrival of the regiment in America. St. John's, May 19, 1815. " No men having deserted from Major (Ireen's artil- " lery, or from the Ei(iHTY-Ei(iHTii regiment, they will " not be required to attend at Chambly for the purpose " of witnessing the execution of the sentence of a Gene- " ral Court Martial on several deserters." The subject was again honourably adverted to by Major-Gener .1 Brisbane, in a letter addressed to the re- giment in Bi jjade Orders, when, in consequence of the escape of Napoleon from Elba, and the prospect of re- newed and active warfare in Europe, it had been ordered to return to England. " B. O. " Major-General Sir Thomas Brisbane was much pleased this day with the general appearance and move- ments of the Efghty-Eiohth Regiment. He cannot refrain from expressing how much, and how sincerely he regrets losing a regiment with which he has so long served, and which has conducted itself so creditably since its arrival in this country ; but he confidently looks forward to have it again in his brigade. The "^r 58 KKillTY-KKillTlIOR .1 f4 1 "i M iHIT)" liiTiimsluntc of the iT^iment mrrr htiriiifr IumI ii itimi " hif (Irxrrfitni is liiglily hoiioiirahio to it, aiui can nyver " be forgotten by the Major Genenil. (Sigiu«l) " J. ('ami'HKll, " Hrigude-Mujor. •' St. John's, May ib, 1MI3." On tlie '2\hh of May the regiment marched from St. John's, reached WilHam Henry on the 1st of June, where it embarked in small craft, and arrived at Trois iiivieres on the tth. At Trois Hivieres it was shifted into transports, reached Quebec on the Hth, sailed again on the iDlh, and arrived at Spidiead on the 15lh of July. The battle of Waterloo bad decided the contest in Europe before the arrival of the Ei(aiTY-Ei(iiiTii ; never- theless the regiment was ordered to proceed, without tlis- embarking, to I'landers. After two days' stay, there- fore, at Spithcad, it sailed again on the 17th, and landed at Ostend on the 2 1st of July. From thence it proceeded towards Paris, and on the I '2th of August took up its quarters at St. Denis, and was once more attached to Sir Thomas Hrisbane's brigade. In December following it was removed to that of Sir John Keane, on which occa- sion Major-General Ib'isbane caused the following letter to be addressed to Colonel Wallace, who had again taken command of the rcffiment. Sib, " Paris, Dec. 17, 1815. " I am directed by Major-General Sir T. Brisl)ane " to express ti» you, and to request that you will conmiu- " nicate to the regiment under your command, the very " sincere regret he feels in losing the EiuHTY-Ei(iHTii ■' regiment from his brigade: but he begs to assure them IJ CONNAUtiHT KAN(iKUS. 50 *' lliut his l)c«t wishoH acrcunipuny tliL-m, uiul he will I8i5 " ulwuys l)c liappy to Imvi- ii^ain iimlfr liis coininaiul a " rc^iimnt that was surpaNScil by nono, citliLT for gal- " lantry in the field, «»r orderly conduct in quarters, " duriny; the seven years they have been with him. " I have, &c. '* J. Camphkll, " Brigade- Major. " To COLONKI, Wam-ack, " Cominunding the Eig/ifij-Eif^hlh Hegiineiit." From January, ISIO, to the end of the spring, |S17. iHir, the Ei(JHTY-Ei(iiiTii was in garrison at Valenciennes, \gi'j when it returned to Great IJritain, and was quartered in lildinburgh about two years. Some time after its arrival in Scotland, a letter was received from Lieutenant-Gcne- ral the Honourable Sir Charles Colville, wIjo had fre- quently had it under his command, as part of the third division, in the Peninsula, and more recently during its stay at Valenciennes, ** expressi'^g Iilo Iiearty wish for " the honour and well-being of the regiment in whatever " situation it may be placed, and requesting the Officers, " Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates, to accept his •• thanks for the ready attention paid to his orders during " the period the regiment was under his command." During the period of repose at Edinburgh, it occurred 1818 to Colonel Wallace to establish an Order of Merit in the regiment, by conferring some honorary mark of distinction on the non-com missioned officers and privates, proportioned to their regimental character, length of ser- vice, and the number of general engagements in which they had been present. This was, however, a design which could not be carried into execution without the consent and approbation of the ConuTiander-in-Chief, 60 kktHty-eigiith, or .', a Mi 1818 which Colonel Wallace applied for in the following letter : — " Edinburgh Castle, June 4, 1818. "Sjr, *' I have the honour to state, that some of the non- " commissioned officers and soldiers of the Eighty- " Eighth Regiment have served in twelve different " general actions, and have been two, three, and four *' times wounded, have been a long time in the regiment, " and always conducted themselves well in the field and " in quarters. I am anxious to bestow upon them some " mark of distinction for their good conduct, as an en- " couragement to them and others in future. " I shall be much obliged to you if you will obtain " His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief's per- ** mission for me to give such men medals as a testimony " of their merit. " I have, &c., '• J. A. Wallack, " Colonel -Commanding. " To the Adjutant-General." The answer of the Commander-in-Chief, communi- cated in a letter from Sir Henry 'J orrens, dated 28th of the same month, sanctioned Colonel Wallace's plan, leaving it to his " discretion to grant such testimonials in " the case alluded to, as he might deem essential to the '' good of the regiment." The proper authority thus obtained, Colonel Wallace's intentions were carried into effect without delay. Silver medals of three distinct classes were struck at the expense of the officers of the regiment. The first class was bestowed on men who had been present in twelve general actions, and consisted of a Maltese cross on which the iiaines of the twelve actions 4 ' i ' CONNAUGIIT RANGERS. Gl were stamped. The second class was given to those who 1818 had served in from six to eleven general actions, and tiie third to such as had served in any number less than six. The name of the man to whom it was given was en- graved on each medal. The total number distributed was, — Serjeants, Corporals, Drummers, Privates. First Class, 13 6 6 45 Second Class, 7 9 3 126 Third Class, 19 10 .3 185 39 25 12 356 On the i 1th of March, 1819, Lieutenant-General Sir 1819 Gordon Drummond, G.C.B., was appointed Colonel of the llegimf.nt, in succession to Lieut. -Gen. Viscount Beres- ford, who was removed to the Sixty -Ninth Regiment. In the summer of 1859, the Eighty-Eighth moved from Edinburgh to Hull, sending detachments to Man- chester and Stockport. In August of the same year. Colonel Wallace, after more than fourteen years' service with the regiment, was promoted to the rank of Major- General, and was succeeded in the command by Lieu- tenant-Colonel James Ferguson. During the time the regiment was quartered at Hull, the manufacturing districts of England were in a high state of discontent, and attempts were made to circulate inflammatory publications amongst the military. Private JamesTracy, of theEioHTY-EiGHTH, being tampered with for this purpose, received the papers, but, instead of dis- tributing them amongst his comrades, instantly gave them lip to his commanding officer, Major Nickle, furnishing, at the same time, such information as led to the appre- hen.sion aud conviction of the man from whom he had received ' em. For this conduct Tracy received a liberal i v! I 02 KIGIITY-EIGHTH. OR ( L 1819 reward, as v/ell as the approbalion of Lieutenant-Ge- neral Sir. John B^iig, commaiuling the district, which was conveyed to him tiirough a letter to Colonel Ferguson. From Hull the Eighty-Eighth removed to Chester, 1521 and from thence, in the summer of 1821, to Liverpool, where it embarked for Ireland, landed at Dublin, and proceeded to Enniskillen, where it took up its head- quarters, furnishing sixteen officers' detachments In 1522 Julv, 1H22, it moved from Enniskillen to Castlebar in Coiiiiauffht, where it remained, again furnishin<; fift.'en 1823 officers' detachments, till December, 182M, when it marched to barracks at Naas. On quitting Castlebar it received a very flattering address from the magistrates and resident gentlemen of the town and neigiibourhood. 1824 On the HHh of January, 1824, Lieutinant-General Sir Gordon Drummond was removed to the Seven ty-l'irst regiment, and the Colonelcy of the Eighty-Mighth was conferred upon Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Frederick Campbell, K.C.B.; G.C.H. 182') It was February, 182.5, before the last detachment joined from Connaught, when the regiment, once more united, removed to Dublin, occupying first the Rich- mond, and subsequently the Royal barracks. While the Eighty-Eighth remained in Dublin, orders were issued for increasing the establishments of regiments from eight to ten companies. The zealous exertions of liieutenant- Colonel Ft-rguson, aided by the high popularity the corps enjoyed, enabled the Eighty-Eighth to complete its numbers in little more than six weeks, and to be the first regiment reported as complete to the Commander- in-Chief, a circumstance honourably -.joticed in a letter from the Adjutant-General of the Forces to Major-Ge- neral Sir Colquhoun Grant, then commanding the garri- son of Dublin, under date of 20th of June, 1825. " I CON NAUGHT RANGKRS. 63 '• have it in command," says tlin kttcr of the Adjutant- lS2"i General, ** to express His Hoyal Highness's approba- " tion of the zeal manifested l)y Lieutenant-Colonel Fer- '• guson, the commanding officer, in thus rapidly raising " tiie augmentation, and which being the first instance of " completion yet reported, is most creditable to that " officer, and the corps under his command."' In the latter part of the summer of 18'25, the regiment removed to Templemore, furnishing fourteen detach- ments in the counties of Tipp^'ary and Limerick. Here^ Lieutenant-Colonel O'Malley joined on the 10th of Au- gust, and took the command in place of Lieutenant- Colonel Ferguson, who had been removed to the Fifty- Second Regiment, In September it received orders for the Mediterranean, embarked by divisions at Cork on the 7th and 21st of October and l2tiiof December, IH'i.'). and proceeded to Corfu, where the last division arrived on the 27th of January, 1S2(). During the year 1^28 the regiment furnished several 1828 detachments to the neighbouring islands of Ithaca, Ce- rigo, Calamos, and Santa Maura ; the detachment in the last-named island suffered severely from a malignant fever which raged during the months of June, July, and August, and carried off thirty six men out of seventy- five, of which it originally cojisisted. On the 19th of September, the headquarters were removed to Cepha- lonia, on which occasion Major- General Woodford took leave of it in the following very flattering terms: — ill ■' Ga)?uison Orders. " Brigade- Major's Office, Corfu, " .S>;;/. \Mh, 1828. " Major-General Woodford wili not allow the Eiofity- EiouTiE regiment toend)ark without his expressing the 04 ElttUTY-KlGHTH, Oil I 1828 " satisfaction he feds at the invariably good conduct the " regiment lias maintained in the garrison. Its interior " order and general soldier-h'ke appearance sufficiently " evince the assiduous attention which has been bestowed " on the regulation and discipline of the corps. Tiie " Major-General feels this tribute to be due to Lieute- " 'lant Colonel O'.Malley, and he re(|uests he will com- " municate his sentiments t(» the regiment." 1830 In April, 1830, the Euihty-Ehjhth again returned to Corfu, where it remained until September, 1831, when it was removed to Vido, and continued there until De- cember, 1831, when ic again proce(!ded to Corfu. The reserve companies remained in Ireland from 182.5, to April, 1830, when they embarked for England. PVom the time of its original formation, the Eight y- EiGHTU regiment had, as stated at the commencement of the Record, borne on its colours and appointments a device, consisting of a Harp and Crown, with the motto '' Qids Hopardhit ?' No direct authority appears to have authorised this appropriation of a badge and motto, but use had sanctioned it, and the recollection of the fields of glory in whicli it had waved before the enemy, endeared it to the sympathies of the officers and men. In an offi- cial design for a new stand of colours preparing for the regiment towards the end of 1.^30, this device and motto were emitted. Colonel O'Malley immediately wrote to the Adjutant-General representing the case, and the strong wishes of the regiment for its retention, for the consideration of the Commander-in-Chief. His applica- tion was successful, and obtained distinct authority for the corps to continue the use of the badge to which it was so strongly and so reasonably attached. The Adju- CONNAUGHT RANGERS. 65 tant-General, in a letter dated from the Horse Guards, 1830 30tli of December, 1830, says — " Sir, " I have had the honour to submit to the General " Commanding-in-Chief your letter of the 2'2nd instant " V ith its enclosures, and am directed to acquaint you, *' tliat under the circumstances therein stated, his Lord- " ship has been pleased to obtain his Majesty's permis- " sion, that the Eif;»TY-EiGiiTH Regiment, or ' CoN- " NAcoHT Ra.nokrs,' may retain on its colours and ap- " pointments the Hakp and Crown, with the* motto " ' Quis sepuralnH^ in addition to the badges and devices " which it has bnen auliion/ed to bear in commemora- " lion of it: inguisinod services on various occasions. " J have. &c., " John Ma( donalu, A.G. " Colonol O'Malley, Eisrhty-F'uhth Rfniment.'" i '«rvices in the acti'i, &e. ; and testimoni"'^ ot itis gallant conduct on the occasiow* in qu<*stion, wen^ fur- nished by Major-General Sir Thomas Ifrisbant wlio conunanded the brigade of which the EiotrTY-EmHT'. formed a part, — by I.ieutenant-<^'olonel Sk Fretierick Stovin, who acted as Assistant- A<^p«itant-Gei;»MraJ to the third liivision, — and by Lieutcnant-( olonel JameHf'awnp- bell. who w-is Major of lirigade (•)(•> KIGHTY-KIGHTH, OH ' "^HO This omission occurred in consequence of the officer who commanded the regiment on the occasion alluded to, not having received a medal for that service, perhaps owing to an accident, or clerical error at the time ; but, as Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton, who com- manded the third division, fell in the battle of Waterloo, the requisite form of recommendation for honours of this description could not be procured, and the General Com- manding-in-Chief did not feel himself justified in depart- ing from the general rule which had been established, as thegro ;. 1 on which these distinctions should be sub- mitted for the King's approval. This honorary inscrip- tion is. consiqucntly, not borne on the colours of the Ei(.ti' Eighth regiment, for its services in the Py- rene - 1831 On thf 2''Ui October, 1831, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Frederick Campbell, K.C.B., Avas removed to the Twenty -Fifth regiment, and Major-Gcnoral Sir John Alexander Wallace, Bart, and K.C.B., who had com- manded the regiment in many of the arduous campaigns during the Peninsular war, was appointed to the Colonelcy of the CoNNAUOHT Rangers. The Eighty-Eighth regiment continued in Corfu from the year 1S30 to 18.%, furnishing occasionally working parties for the island of Vido, and detachments to Santa Maura, and the other islands : the detachment to Santa Maura in April, 1832, continued there ten months, and consisted of two Captains, three Subalterns, one Assistant-Surgeon, six Serjeants, two Drummers, and one hundred and fifty Rank and File. To those persons interested in the well-being of the corps, and who recollect the extent of sickness and mor- tality experienced by a former detachment at this station, and of not more than half the strength, in the year l82cS, S !■ t;UNNAUOIlT KANOKRS. 67 it will be gratifying to know, that not more than two 1831 deaths took place, neither of which was caused by climate, one of them was accidental drowning, and the other the consequence of delirium tremens ; indeed, such was the health of this detachment, that the hospital was, for the greater part of the time, unoccupied during its stay at Santn Maura. From the period of the return of the regiment from the Island of Cephalonia to Corfu, Major-General Sir Alex- ander Woodford, in making his half-yearly inspections, expressed in every instance his approbation of the corps, more especially in June, 1831 , when he addressed a letter, of which the following is a copy, to Major O'Hara, then Commanding Officer, upon whom, and the regiment altogether, the sentiments expressed by the Major-Gene- ral reflect much credit : — Corfu, Gth June, 1831. •' Sir, " Having now inspected the Eighty-Eighth regi- " ment, twice within six months, and having on both oc- " casions found it in high order, I have a satisfactory " duty to perform, in desiring you will communicate to " the regiment my approbation of its soldier-like appear- " ance, its interior order, and its general steadiness " under arms. " I beg you will intimate to the Officers, that their at- '• tention to their duties, and to the good order and * management of their companies, is very apparent ; and " that, from the direction thus given to the men, in the " care and keeping of their arms, accoutrements, and ap- •' pointments, and in everything relating to their equip- " ment and personal appearance, arise, in my opinion, • the good humour and contentment, and consequent ¥'2 68 KIGHTY-KirfllTII, OR \8'M " rt'OLilarity and discipline, which characterise the rcgi- '• meiit. " To the Non-Commissioncd Oflicers and Men, I " desire you will state, that I am perfectly satisfied with " them, individually, as clean, smart, and well-behaved '* soldiers, and collectively as a corps, highly creditable " to the King's service. " In conveying these observations to the Eiohty- " EioHTii regiment assembled on parade, yn will, Sir, '« receive yourself the best testimony I can give, to the •• care and attention with which you have discharged " your own superior duties. '• I have, &c. (Signed) '• A. Woooroiii), " Ma'jor-CJeneral. " To Major O'llnni, Comma/iditig EightyKighth BegimciH.^' Nothing of importance connected with the history of the reirimeut, occurred from the date of its return to Corfu, with the exception cjf the melancholy circum- stance of Captain the Honourable Charles (iustavus Monckton having been assassinated by a villain, private James Clarke, on the 9th August, 1831, under the im- pression, as it is believed, that his being accidentally met out of barracks at a late liour of the night, by Captain Monckton, when in the act of committing felony, might tend to his conviction tliereof. 'Ihe constitution of a regiment is such that tht acts of individuals, more or less, reflect honcHU' or disgrace on the whole corps, and much of the fame and high character to which tile Eu.hty-Eu.htii regiment has claim, would ]Krhaps be tarnished, if grounds existed for imagining that any other indi\Hlual belonging to it was concernccl in this dial)olical act ; the ftvlinns evinced bv the soldiers ('ONNAU(JIlT RANGERS. (V.) ■«•- 1 •itii ved tl)le of the regiment, particularly those of the company to ] 31 which the assassin belonged, wlicn forgetful of the for- bearance duv to religion and to the laws, they were with dilhculty restrained from taking vengeance, as well as their subsequent conduct in recpiesting U i;,^ permitti^l to subscribe one dollar (4.9. 4d.) per man, to ■ rcct a mo- niuneni to the memory of their much-lamented officer, and thereby make known to posterity, their horror and indignation at the disgraceful occurrence, are convincinrp proofs that no other soldier was implicated in this dis graceful transaction. The recjucst of the regiment was acquiesced in ; at the same time it was deemed p'-'ident to limit th' suu scription of the Non-Comn:'>sioned OlKcers and Privates, to one day's pay each, with which a monument has been erected in the military burial-ground of Corfu. The following notification was made to the regiment on this occasion : — ' Co7-fu, 1 5th Mitrc/i, 1833 " The Colonel commanding has much pleasure in an- nouncing to the regiment, that the Monument to the memory of the late Honourable Captain Monckton has been completed, and now stands over the grave of that much-lamented officer, in the military burial-ground of this garrison. This mark of esteem and regard for the deceased reflects much credit and honour upon the regiment, more eS|:.ecially, as the expense attending it has been paid by die voluntary subscriptions of the Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers who gene- rously offered one dollar per man towards it, which Colonel O'lVIalley feels quite assured they would as cheerfully have paid, if necessary, and if permitted to do so, as ihey have readily contributed one day's pay, 70 KKiHTY-KlGUiH.OU 1831 ♦♦ to which it was deemed prudent to limit their coiilri- " bution." The monument bears the following inscription in English, and in Greek, vi/. : — .1 1 \ " SACKKD To the Memory o( THE HONOURABLE CHARLES flUSTAVUS MONCKTON, I^ate Captain iu His Majesty's Eighty-Eighth Regiment (or Connuught Ruiigeis), Who (lied l)y tlie hand of an Assassin, on the 9th August, lH'3l, Aged Twenty-Six years. Tliis Monument is erected by the Non-Commissioued Officers and Private Soldiers ol'the Regiment, in testimony of their respect and regard for this most lamented young Officer, and to record their abhorrence of the atrocious act by which he was deprived of life. The feeling of grief and indignation, strongly and universally expreiiHed by the Regiment, was only moderated on witnessing the |)rom|)t punishment of the murderer, Private James Clarke, who was executed on the 11*H August, 1831. 1833 It may be here told, in fuchir justice to the feelings of the men of the company to which this assassin Clarke belonged, that such was the horror of the wretch's memory amongst them, that not one of those soldiers could be prevailed with, unless positively ordered, to receive, and do duty with the arms and accoutrements which had been in his charge, and this having come to the know- ledge of the Commanding Officer, in March, 1S33, when a draft of men was received from the reserve companies, which made it necessary to bring in use some spare arms and accoutrements, Colonel O'Malley (in proof of his ac(iuioscence in the feeling) caused the atcoutrements and appointments in question to be cut in pieces on the parade of the regiment, and the objectionable firelock CONNAIIGIIT UANGKKS. 71 111- III was tlclivtr ,} into tlio Orilnancc stores in cxclinngc for 18;};j another. The ceremony of presenting new colours to the rcgi- 1*^34 ment, took place at Corfu on tiie 'J7th of February, 1831, llie anniversanj of the battle of Ortltesy in which the Ekhity-Ekjuth regiment bore a distinguished part, and suffered a severe loss in officers and men. The presentation of colours, which is under any cir- cumstances interesting, caused on the present occasion an unusual excitement, it being known that they wei' to be given by Lady Woodford, the wife of Majoi General Sir Alexander Woodford, . commanding the troops in the Ionian Islands. A vast concourse of people, with all the beauty and fashion of the place, assembled at an early hour on the esplanade of the citadel, which is finely situated, commanding a view of the rugged and snow-topped mountains of Albania, of the sea, and of the fertile hills of the island covered with olives, and green with the opening vegetation of an early spring. The fineness of the day was in unison with the beauty of the scenery, and nature herself seemed to smile on the expected ceremony. The Lord High Com- missioner, Lord Nugent, the President of the Senate, and the Senators with their families, and the nobility and gentry of the island, honoured the corps with their presence. The regiment being assembled and drawn up in line, at about eleven o'clock Lady Woodford arrived in her carriage, attended by the Major General and his Staff on horseback ; and on her Ladyship's descending in front of the line, the regiment presented arms, the band playing " God save the King." The grenadier company then moved from the right, and drew up facing the centre of the battalion : having opened its ranks, it presented ^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^'^\f^ « 1.0 !^i2£ 1^ ■tt I2i2 12.2 I.I 1.25 |2j0 Hiotpgraphic Sciences Corporalion 23 WeST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SB0 (716)872-4503 yj 72 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR •PS II': 1 834 arms to the old colours, of which it took charge, and escorted them to the citadel, the regiment presenting arms to them. Shortly afterwards the grenadiers re- turned with the new colours, which had been consecrated on the previous Sunday, and had remained in the garri- son chapel. These were delivered by the Rev. Charles Kuper to the Major and senior Captain, by whom they were borne to the parade, where those officers placed themselves on either side of Lady Woodford, continuing to hold the colours unfurled. The grenadiers having resumed their place on the right of the line, the regiment formed three sides of a square, leaving the fourth open to the public. During this formation, in order that a suitable impression might be made on their young minds, the school children of the regiment (boys and girls), neatly and uniformly dressed in green, moved into the square. Ensigns Herbert and Honeywood, upon whom the honour of receiving the colours devolved, were then or- dered to advance towards Lady Woodford, when her Ladyship delivered the colours to those officers, with the following exhortation : — ** Gentlemen, " Receive and guard with fidelity, in every dan- " ger, these Colours which I have the honour of pre- " senting to you ! May the Almighty protect and pfosper *' you in this sacred duty, and may you live to be dis- *' tinguished in your country's service !" At this moment a light breeze expanded the Colours, emblazoned with the names of the many battles in which the corps had borne a distinguished part, and a simulta- neous burst of admiration and applause issued forth from the numerous spectators. The Ensigns then moved to their places in the line of CONNAUGHT RANGERS. 73 Officers; as they advanced, the regiment presented arms, 1834 the band playing " God save the King." The Major -General then stepped forward and ad- dressed the regiment in the following terms : — •* Colonel O'Malley, Officers, Non-Commissioned Offi- " cers, and Privates of the Eighty-Eighth regiment, I ** have witnessed the [)resentation of your Colours with " peculiar interest and satisfaction. , *' To a regiment whose bravery in the field has ever " been conspicuous, few words can be necessary on this '• occasion ; but as your Colours are a sacred pledge " which binds you to your duty and your country, I " cannot pass over in silence a ceremony which calls forth *' every warm and honourable feeli'ig that ought to ani- " mate a soldier's breast. " This day, the anniversary of the battle of Orthes, •* reminds us of a period when the valour and discipline •' of the British arms rendered it everywhere triumphant, '* under that great commander who led it from victory " to victory. *' In those active and arduous campaigns, theEiGHTY- •' Eighth regiment, from first to last, bore a most dis- " tinguished part, under the command of that gallant ' * officer who is now your Colonel *. " The records of its meritorious services in those hard " fought battles, emblazoned on these colours wliich are " now confided to your trust, will be to you a proud " memorial of the past, and a stimulus for days to come. " There are other corps, too, in this command, who " equally shared in those glorious successes, and in re- " verting to their own gallant conduct, they will attest, " and they can well appreciate the ardour and gallantry " of the Eighty-Eighth. m : ; •' f 5. li k * Lieutenant-General Sir John A. Wallace, Bart., and K.C.B. 74 EIOHTY-KIGHTH, OR P ST If 1 [ !^ «l I 1834 " Nor can I pass over a fact not less honourable to " the corps than even brilliant achievements in the field, *" I allude to the campaign in Canada, where the induce- *' ment to desertion was great, but where your men, with- '' out one single exception, spurned every attempt to " seduce them from their colours and their duty ; a me- " morable instance of their love of country, and of their " fidelity to the service, which rendered them worthy of '' their native land, and an honour to the British army. " Colonel, Oflicers, and Soldiers, " The good spirit and discipline which pervade your " ranks are the best presages of your future conduct, " wherever you may be called. "In your hands, Sir, warmly supported as you are by " the officers around you, with your vigilance, your per- " severance, and your zeal for the welfare of the regi- " ment, I feel persuaded that its reputation and high " name will ever be nobly maintained. " With respect to you. Soldiers, there never was a " period when the country had stronger claims on your " attachment ; when the regUilations of the service so " carefully provide for your maintenance, your comfort, " and your protection, while serving ; your support and " honourable retirement, when age and infirmity render " you incapable of active duty ; and I may say, with " confidence, there never was a time when the British sol- " diers were more sensible of the advantages they enjoy — " more firm in their allegiance — more faithfully devoted " to their King and country. " And whenever your services shall again be required to encounter the enemies of our country in the field, need I say to the Connaught Rangers, by these Colours you must stand or fall — with these Colours you must conquer or perish .'*" CONNAUGHT RANGERS. 75 The Commanding Officer, Colonel O'Malley, replied 1834 to the Major-General as follows : — " It becomes my duty for the Officers, Non-Commis- " sioned Officers, and Soldiers of the Eighty-Eighth, " to return thanks to you, Lady Woodford, and to you, •' Sir Alexander, for the honour done to us this day ; in " performing which duty, I feel, with much regret, how '' very incapable I am to do justice to the occasion, or to '* the grateful feelings towards you, which animate me •' and every individual of the regiment. " Rangers ! the Colours you have just received have •' been in my possession above two years, in which I have " watched over them with a constant and anxious desire " to witness their delivery to you. Unavoidable circum- •' stances have hitherto prevented this, more especially, '* which we all have viewed with deep sympathy and " regret, the long and severe indisposition of Lady "Woodford. We* have now, however, thanks to the " Almighty, the great satisfaction to see her Ladyship on *' this parade in renewed health and strength ; under " any circumstances you would receive with pleasure and '* honour throughout your lives, those Colours, borne as " they are on the old and wounded poles which accom- " panied the regiment through many successful and " triumphant battles, and with the only remaining frag- " ments of the old Colours attached to them ; but tenfold ** will be your satisfaction in having received them " through the hands of Lady Woodford, a circumstance " in itself which could not fail to insure them your respect " and devotion ; of this I was fully aware, when in your '' name I solicited her Ladyship to present those Colours. *' In reference to them, identified as they are with the " history and gallant achievements of the regiment, I ♦' might, and would say much, and that without a fear of US KIGIITY-EIGHTH, OR i!3 1834 '* the cliarge being made against nic, of sounding my " own praises, (for, unhappily, 1 had no sliare in the " deeds of glory to which I allude) ; but my feelings, ex- " cited by the very impressive address that the Major- " General has had the goodness to make to us, and by " the interesting presentation of the Colours by Lady " Woodford, altogether unfit me for the task. " To gain the good opinion and the confidence of those *' General Officers under whose orders we may serve, " should at all times be our study ; to succeed must in *• any case be gratifying ; but in the instance of so very " distinguished an officer as Sir Alexander Woodford, " who so thoroughly knows what a British soldier is and "ought to be; and after a period of seven years, in '• which we have served under his orders, in the course ^' of which he has acquired an intimate knowledge of us " as a regiment, it is flattering and grateful in the ex- " treme to me, as it is to you. Officers and Soldiers, to " have heard the Major-General speak as he has done of " the good spirit and discipline which pervade our ranks. " We owe it to ourselves never to be unmindful of this " address, and I pray you to recollect what I have fre- " quenlly impressed on you, that not only by bravery in " war can the honour of your Colours be upheld, but " also by a steady perseverance in good and regular con- " duct, and let us ever bear in mind, that valour without " discipline is of no avail." % The square was then reduced, and the regiment being in line, fired a. feu dejoie, the drums beating a point of war between each fire, and at the close the band played " God save the King ;" after which the regiment gave three hearty cheers in honour of the occasion. The regi- ment then broke into column and marched past, the CONNAUGHT UANOERS. 71 Officers saluting, and the line being re-formed, opened 1834 its ranks, advanced, and again presented arms. At two o'clock, the whole of the Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, with their families, were provided with an excellent dinner on the parade in the citadel. The Service Companies embarked from Corfu on board the Barosa troop ship, under command of Major Eden, on 29th July, 1836, and landed at Portsmouth the 23rd of September, where they joined the Depot Companies after a separation of nearly eleven years, those companies having arrived only two days previously from Ireland. The Depot Companies after being moved from Ireland to Languard Fort and Harwich in 1830, continued to occupy those quarters until July, 1832, when they moved to Chatham, leaving a detachment of one com- pany at Harwich, under command of Captain Orr; on the 1st January, 1833, Major OHara joined and as- sumed the command of the depot, Major Eden having proceeded to join the Service Companies, and in this year the depot moved to Sheerness, where Captain Orr's detachment joined in June from Harwich, on quitting which place Captain Orr received a letter expressive of the admiration of the Mayor, Justices, and Inhabitants, of the good conduct of the detachment, of which letter and of Captain Orr's reply, the following are copies, viz.: — " Ilancich, \1th Jane, 1833. '« Sir, — By the desire of the Mayor and Justices of •' this Borough, and on behalf of the inhabitants at large, " I have to communicate to you the expression of their " admiration of the conduct of the detachment of the " EiuiiTY-EiGimi Regiment under your command, '♦ during their long services on this station, as having " been of the most exemplary and praiseworthy de- 78 KIGHrY-EIOHTH,OR k li i 1^ 1 I ■ 11 it 1834 " scription. I l)cg to assure you how much gratified I '• am hy the honour of this instrumentality. '' Believe me, Sir, very respectfully, yours, (Signed) " B. Chapman. T. C '" '* A correct copy of the testirronial of good conduct " of a detachment of EiGnxv-EiodTii Regiment, under *' the command of Captain Orr. (Signed) " George Gi uam, Mayor. •• To Captain Orr, Commanding BSth Fbot." " Harmch, \2th June, 1833. " Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, conveying the kind expression of the Mayor, Justices, and Inhabitants at large, on the con- duct of the detachment under my command, and am much gratified that their constant good conduct should ** have called forth the approbation of those among •' whom they have so long been quartered, requesting " you to accept my best thanks for the handsome manner " you have communicated their sentiments to me. " Believe me, Sir, " Your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) " Martin Orr, Capt. 88th regt. " To B. Chapman, Esq., Town Clerk:' In June, 1834, the depot marched in two divisions from Slieerness, and returned to Chatham, where, soon after, one of those incidental riots took place between some soldiers and some of the seamen and labourers in the Dock-yard, which, as in most cases of the kind, ori- ginated from some trifling cause, and was in the first in- stance considered of no importance; but unhappily it shortly after assumed a more grave and serious form, as very frequent opportunities were taken to grossly insult and assault the soldiers, who, though fully impressed CONNAUWHT RANGKRS. 79 with that good sense of discipline which commands for- if<34 bearance, were farced in self-defence to retaliate. Again, on the 21 St August, after the races, an altercation took place between some soldiers and sailors, the origin of which could not be ascertained, but the sailors were joined by a vast rabble of the lowest kind, who aided in seriously maltreating the soldiers, whose numbers being comparatively few, acted alone in self-defence, until some of the well-disposed of the inhabitants ran to the barracks and gave notice to the guard of what was pass- ing : when the soldiers in barracks were made aware of it, they rushed therefrom to the aid of their comrades, some of whom they met, in appearance frightfully maimed, the consequences of which might have been most serious, had not the Officers of the depot hurried forward and arrested the advance of the soldiers, who in obedience to orders immediately returned to the barracks. In the course of this proceeding, no interference was made by the civil authorities, nor on the following day when a party of seamen in a state of intoxication, ac- con)panied by a vast rabble armed with bludgeons, and preceded by persons with musical instruments, marched up to the barrack-gate and called for the soldiers of the EioHTY-EiGHTH, to comc out for fight, and decide the affray of the previous day, a challenge which no doubt would have been readily accepted, more especially as the men were termed cowards, &c. had not the serjeant of the barrack-guard and his men done their duty by keep- ing their comrades within the walls, until the Command- ing Officer and Officers were made aware of what was passing, and ordered the barrack-gates to be closed, and thus terminated this threatened fight. A detailed report of these proceedings was made by the Officer command- ing the depot to the Commandant of Chatham, and a 80 KIGHTY-KIGIITII, OR h U 1834 complaint against the military having been forwarded in the name of the inhabitants of that place, a Court of Enquiry of fire Officers (Major Didmnrditu of the Pro- visional J3attali(m, President) was assembled on the Jst September for the investigation of the complaints, of which due notice was given to the complainants, with an invitation to attend and support the charges they had preferred: notwithstanding which, not one individual ap- peared before the court ; and however blameablc the civil authorities may be considered for their non-interference to check the scenes which took place, it may be justly inferred that no guilt could be established against the military, more especially, as such a report was made for the General Commanding-in-Chief's information, as brought a letter from the Adjutant -General, expressive of Lord Hill's satisfaction at the exertions of Major O'Hara and that of the Non-Commissioned Officers, in supporting his exertions to prevent and stop the irregular proceedings which took place, of which letter the follow- ing is a copy, viz. : — " Horse- Guards, 20ih September, 1834. *' Sir, — Having'had the honour to submit to the Ge- '* neral Commanding-in-Chief, your letter of the 5th " inst., and that of Major O'Hara of the Eigfitv-Eighth " Regiment therewith received, I have it in command to " say, that Lord Hill learns with great satisffiction from *' the detailed explanation which the Major has sub- " mitted on the present occasion, that he did not fail to '* exert himself to the very utmost to prevent and put a " stop to the irregular proceedings to which that ex- " planation alludes ; and that his Lordship s satisfaction " is greatly enhanced, from learning, also, that the Non- " Commissioned Officers of the Eksutv-Eiohth did *' their duty in supporting their Conunanding Officer's (J()NNAU(nrr HANGKRS. 81 " exertions on that occasion, ns the contrary line of con • 1834 " duct had been cahimniou«ly imputed to them. " 1 have the honour to be, Sir, " Your very obedient humble Servant, (Signed) *' John MacDonald, Adjt.-Gen. " To Colonel Sir Leonard Greenwell, " K.C.H., Chatham." The depot marched in two divisions to Dover, on the 6th and 8th of September, and arrived on the 10th and 12th. They occupied the Western Height Barracks, giving a detachment to tlie Custle until t!ie 3rd of January, 1835, when the entire of the depot were moved to the Castle. Soon after its arrival in Dover it actively assisted with the Artillery in extinguishing a fire, for which the thanks of the inhabitants were received ; and after being quartered in Dover for eleven months, it embarked for Ireland in the Messenger steamer, the 5th August. The feeling of the inhabitants at its departure will be best understood by reading the following description thereof, extracted from the '• Dover Telegraph," which, with a letter from the Magistrates, and a garrison order, on the occasion, sufficiently refute the calumny cast on the corps when at Chatham. Frotn the Dover Telegraph. DEPARTURE OF THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH. The official documents which follow this article, so justly embody the sentiments of the chief civil and mili- tary authorities of the town and garrison, on the uniform good conduct of the depot companies of the Connal'ght Rangers, since they have been stationed here, us to leave us but the alternative of referring to our humble testi- mony in their favour on the first arrival of their route for Ireland. That the inhabitants of all ranks fully concur in these i 1:1' 82 KIGHTYKIOIITII. OR I 1834 tcRtiinoiiicfl. i^ Ik'hI proved hy the voices of the thinwuulit assembled to j^reet them with n farewell clieer. At five o'clock on Wednesday eveninjj, the depot marched from their quarters in the Custle through the town to the new cross wall, where they were immediately eudiarkcd on board the Messenger steamer, and fnmi that hour till nearly half-past eight, the piers and cpiays were literally crowded with the largest concourse of persons witnessed there for many years. During the flowing of the tide the brass band gave their final entertainment, by performing several national and appropriate airs in their acknow- ledged excellent style, and considerable amusement was afforded to those near the vessel by the leave-takings of the soldiers' female friends, most of whom seemed more desirous of taking leave to accompany them. At nearly half-past eight the Messenger was warped into the middle of the harbour, and presently afterwards the paddle wheels were in motion. At this moment the most perfect silence was observed by the troops, an arrangement that seemed necessary for every order being distinctly heard, relative to navigating in the harbour a vessel of eight hundred tons, propelled by machinery of two hundred horse power. But no sooner had she passed the boom- house jetties, than the cheers of the troops burst forth in a genuine Hibernian hurra, which was immediately an- swered most cordially by the multitude assembled on the piers, and continued for some minutes. The band played " Rule Britannia" as the ship glided majestically to sea, and in a few minutes the Conxaught Rangkrs were out of sight and progressing towards their native land. We have entered more into detail than is usual on the embarkation of a single corps, but the peculiarly disad- vantageous circumstances under which the Ecghtv- EiGiiTii arrived at Dover, thus contrasted with the in- tONNAUGIlT KANOKKN. terent excitt'd by tlnir ilepurliiro, after a stay of nearly 1835 twelve inoiitliM utnoiif^Ht uh. we think may warrant uiir doing HO, as a pr(M>f that the odium attached to the corps at Chatham was undcHerved. We now turn cheerfully to the documenlH before alluded to, the communication from the town clerk, and the garrison order of Colonel Arnold, viz. : — " Dover, 3r(i August, 183.^. " Sir, — I am directed by the Mayor and Magistrates •' to express to you their regret thut the town is shortly " to be deprived of the KKiUTV-Eiuinn depot under " your command. When the peculiar circumstances at- " tending its removal to this town are taken into consi- " deration, the Mayor and Magistrates deem it but an '' act of justice to the regiment, to state their great satis- " faction with the general good conduct of all parties " connected with it during the period it has been sta- *' tioncd in this garrison *' I am, Sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) *' G. VV. Lii:noKR, Town-Clerk. " To Major O'Hara, Commanding Depot " Eighty-Eighth Regiment, Dover Castle." " Dover Cast/t; 4th August, 1835. " Sir, — 1 have received with much satisfaction your ** letter of the 3rd inst. expressive of the regret of the •• Mayor and Magistrates at our departure from this gar- *' rison. In the present instance its value is much en- *' hanced from the circumstance to which it refers, and " their favourable opinion is the best refutation to those " unfounded calumnies which were disseminated to our *' disadvantage at Chatham. Here we have found no un- " just prejudice ; on the contrary, we are much indebted " to the inhabitants for their invariable kindness and at- " tention, and we feel a pride and Satisfaction in having '• elicited this testimony of approbation from so highly u '2 84 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR .5; i 1835 " respectable a body as the Mayor and Magistrates of " Dover, to whom, as well as to the inhabitants, we sin- " cercly bid farewell. " I have the honour to be, Sir, " Your obedient servant, (Signed) " Robert OHara, Major 88th, " Commanding Depot. " To Mr. O. W. Ledger, Toim-CIerk, Dover:' Copy of a Garrison Order issued by the Commanding Officer at Dover, on the departure of the depot of the Eighty-Eighth regiment: — " Dover, 3rd August, 1835. " The depot of the EionTV-EioHTH regiment being " about to embark for Cork, Colonel Arnold cannot suffer " it to leave Dover without expressing his high sense of *•' its excellent and exemplary conduct since it has been " stationed here, and which he has frequently had much " satisfaction in reporting to his Lordship the General " Commanding-in-Chief. By its correct and soldier-like " behaviour, the depot of the Eighty-Eighth regiment " has fully supported in garrison the high character which " that distinguished corps has always maintained in the " field, and conciliated the respect and regard of the inha- " bitants generally, by whom Colonel Arnold is confident " its departure will be greatly regretted, and he sincerely " wishes the depot health and prosperity. (Signed) " T. B. Arnold, Colonel, " Royal Engineers, Commg. the Garr." On the arrival of the Messenger steamer at the Cove of Cork, orders were received to convey the depot to Kinsale, where it disembarked the 10th September, and went into barracks at Charles Fort, from which a com- pany was detached to Bandon on the 14th. On the 6th October, the depot was inspected by Major-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., commanding the southern CONNAUGIIT RANGERS. 85 district, who expressed himself highly satisfied with it in i836 every particular. On 19th October, Assistant-Surgeon Douse, Lieutenant Mackie, with one serjeant, and twenty- one privates, proceeded to Spike Island, where (with the exception of Surgeon Douse, pron;oted to the 14th foot, who was replaced by Assistant- Surgeon Dalmage) they remained until the 9th February, 1836, when they em- barked in the Bristol freight ship to join the service companies at Corfu. On the 3lst March, a company was detached to Dunmanway. The depot received the route for Nenagh, and two companies, with head-quarters, marched from Charles Fort on the 19th of April, detaching, en route, a com- pany to Killaloe, and relieved the depot of the 27th regi- ment at Nenagh, on the 27th. The companies at Bandon and Dunmanway joined head-quarters on the I2th May, and the depot was inspected by Major-General Sir James Douglas, K.C.B., commanding the south-western dis- trict, on the 14th, who was pleased to say, " he had seen " no depot of which he should make a more favourable " report.'' A letter, of which the following is a copy, was re- ceived by Captain Rutherford, commanding the detach- ment at Bandon, on his departure from that town : — " Bandon, 2nd May, 1836. " Sir, — We the undersigned inhabitants of the town " and neichbourhood of Bandon, having learned with " regret that you are about to be removed with the de- " tachment under your command of the Eighty-Eighth " regiment, consider it but justice to express to you " before your departure, our perfect satisfaction at the " regular and strict propriety of conduct of the men of '* your distinguished corps while they have been sta- " tioned here, now upwards of seven months; thus proving 86 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR f ir 1836 *' to their friends at home, as they have often done to *' their enemies abroad, what can be effected by uniform " steadiness and high discipline. " We beg you to accept and express to your men, '* our very best wishes for yours and their happiness " and success, and the great satisfaction we shall I'eel, " should the Connaught Rangers at any future period " be quartered among us." Signed by the Honourable Wm. Bernard, Provost of Bandon, eight Magistrates, ten Clergymen, and one hundred and forty-eight of the most respectable and in- fluential inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood. To the foregoing Captain Rutherford made the fol- lowing reply : — *' To the Provost, Magistrates, Clergymen, and Inha- " bitants of the town and neighbourhood of Bandon. •• Bandon, 3rd May, 1836. " Gentlemen, — I have the honour to acknowledge the " receipt of your very flattering address of the 2nd inst. " That the conduct of the men of the Eighty-Eighth " regiment, since they have been quartered here, has " elicited the approbation of so numerous and highly " respectable a body of the inhabitants, is to me, as I " am sure it will be to every officer of the corps, a source " of the greatest gratification. " The regret you express at the departure of the de- " tachment, and the satisfaction it would afford, should " the Connaught Rangers at any future period return " to Bandon, must be fully oarticipated in by every indi- " vidual who has had the good fortune to be stationed " here, where the officers have received such general and " friendly attention, and where the men have witnessed " huch cordiality and good feeling. CON NAUGHT K ANGERS. 87 " With a deep sense of the honour you have conferred, 183() "not only on me, but the F. y-Eightii regiment " generally, " I have the honour to remait), " Your very obedient humble servant. (Signed) " H. W. Rutherford, " Capt. 88th. Commandg. Detach," The depot marched from Nenagh to Buttivant on the 9th June, where it arrived on the 14th, and received orders to hold itself in readiness to embark for England, which it did in September following, on board the Athol troop ship, and joined the service companies at Portsmouth, on the 23rd of that month, when they landed from Corfu. The regiment continued to do duty in the garrison of 1837 Portsmouth nearly eleven months, in the course of which time it was twice inspected by Major-General Sir Thomas M'Mahon, K.C.B., who, on each occasion, expressed his nost unqualilied approbation of it in every particular, and his intention to report accordingly to the General Comnianding-in-Chief. Whilst at Portsmouth the re- giment discharged nine Serjeants and ninety-two rank and file, most of them after long service, worn out and unfit for further service; those numbers were, however, re- cruited in the course of fourteen weeks, forty-one of whom were chosen from disbanded soldiers of Evans's legion on their return from Spain, and the regiment dis- continued to recruit. It marched for Weedon Barracks, Northamptonshire, in three divisions, on the 14!th, 15th, and 16th August, 1837, and on the 20th of September, it was inspected by Lord Hill, General Commanding-in- Chief, when his Lordship was pleased to express himself in high terms of approbation. After a stay of only seven weeks at this most desirable station, it again marched in it 8.8 EIGHTY-EIGHTH, OR I ' 183*7 four divisions into Lancashire, on 16tli, I7tli, 18th, 19th, of October, to Bolton (head-quarters), Wigan, Haydock Loch, and Liverpool. TheEiGHTY-EiaHTH,orCoNNAUGHTRA>GERs, though comparatively a young regiment, has performed much ar- duous service. A few months after it was embodied, it was engaged in operations against the enemy in Flanders and Holland, and shared in all the difficulties and priva- tions of a winter campaign in 1794. A portion of the corps was afterwards employed inactive operations in the West Indies. In a few years it appeared on the shores of India; and it formed the van of the Indian army through the deserts of Egypt. In South America the CoNNAUGHT Rakgers performed their duty as gallant soldiers : and throughout the Peninsular campaigns their services are associated with the Third Divmou of the British army, which was eminently distinguished for gal- lantry. After a series of victories in Europe, the services of the regiment were transferred to North America, where it was distinguished for a praiseworthy national feeling, which is inherent in brave men, and was evinced by the absence of desertion. Its services may be esti- mated from the circumstance, that in a period of six years it lost forty-three Officers, twenty-eight of whom fell in the field ; the remainder died from wounds, from the effects of climate, or from fatigue ; and its loss in Non- Commissioned Officers and Privates during the same period, and from the same causes, was above two thousand. Since the termination of the war, this regi- ment, \1 SECOND BATTALION OP THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT. This battalion was composed of recruits raised in Ire- land, for limited service, under the authority of the Additional Force Act, which passed 4th of July, 1804, and was placed on the establishment of the army, Decem- ber 25th of the same year. It was formed at Dumfries, in Scotland, in November, 1805, under the command of Lieutenant -Colonel John Alexander Wallace, embarked at Leith for the Thames, and landing at Gravesend, marched into Sussex, where it occupied various quarters, and furnished, from time to time, reinforcements for the First Battalion. In January, 1807, it returned to Ire- land, and was quartered principally in Connaught, where it recruited numerous volunteers from the Irish militia regiments. In the summer of 1809 it embarked from Cork for Lisbon ; but on its arrival, and subsequent inspection there, it was sent, in consequence of the youth of the men, to Gibraltar, and did duty in that garrison for a few months. From Gibraltar it was ordered, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, to Cadiz, in which city it was quartered during the operations against Fort Matagorda. After the reduction of that fort it was encamped for two or three months in the Isla de Leon, under the command of Major (afterwards Lieutenant- Colonel) Macpherson, and assisted in the construction CON NAUGHT RANGERS. \)i of the lines thrown up for the defence of that island against the French. A short time before Lieutenant- General Sir Thomas Graham engaged in the expedition which led to the battle of Barossa, the Second Battalion of the Eighty-Eighth was ordered again to Lisbon, where Colonel Taylor resumed the command. In the pursuit of Massena's army from the lines of Torres Vedras, the second battalion, under the command of Major Dunne, was attached to the third division of the army. It was engaged in the action at Sabugal, and was present lu the operations of the army down to the storming of Badajoz, after which, it furnished, as formerly stated, a large draft of men to the First Bat- talion and returned to England. In the end of 1813 it was ordered to Ireland, for the greater facility of recruit- ing. The very liberal encouragement which Lieutenant- General Lord Beresford afforded to this service, enabled Major Dunne to obtain a number of volunteers from the Irish militia; the liberality of the Colonel, and the judi- cious management of the Commanding Officer, were so successful, that in two months the battalion was increased from one hundred and forty to eight hundred strong. It continued in Ireland, furnishing occasional drafts to the First Battalion until January, 1816, when it was finally reduced at Clare Castle, after transferring all the men who were fit for service to the 1st battalion, then quartered in France. SUCCESSION OF FIELD-OFFICERS; NAMES OF OFFICERS, &c., KILLED and WOUNDED WITH A LIST OF NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, &c., WHO HAVE RKCKIVED MEDALS FOR MERITOHIOXJS SERVICK. 94 KIOHTY-KIOHTH, OH SUCCESSION OF FIELD OFFICERS. i ' COLONKLS. Sept. 25th, 1 793/ Date uf Appointment, The Honourable John Tho- mas De Burgh, after- wards Major-General the Earl of Clanricarde General John Reid Nov. 27th, 1 794. Colonel William Carr Be-] resford, now General >Feb. 9th, 1807. < Viscount Beresford j Lieut.-General Sir Gordon Drummond, GC.B. }Mar.llth;i819. Lieut.-General Sir Henry}j^„ ,gj^ Fred. Campbell, K.C.B. ' Lieut.-General Sir John] Alexander Wallace, Bt.| Oct. 20th, 1831. and K.C.B. j Date of Removal, &r. Removedtotlie 66th Regt., 27tli Nov. 1 794. Died in 1807. Removed to the 16th regiment of foot in 1819. Removed to the 71st regiment of foot in 1824. Removed tothe23th regiment of foot in 1831. Lieutenant-Colonels. Robert Brownrigg Frederick Keppell Wentworth Serle Pate of Appointment. Date of Removal, &c. September 25, 1793. Coldstream Guards. March 28, 1794. 49th foot. June 21, 1795. To half-pay. „. „ „ n . « . . f Promoted to the Co- Wm. Carr Beresford September 16, 1795. j j^^^^j^y j„ jgj,^ Alexander Duff April 14, 1798. John Alex. Wallace February 6, 1805. .Tohn Taylor May 18, 1809. James Ferguson August 12, 1819. George N. O'Malley June 2, 1825. To half-pay. ^Promoted to Major- \ General, 1819. To half-pay. To 52nd foot. CON NAUGHT RAN0KR8. 95 Majors. Date of AppolntmPDt. J. T. Harvey Elwes March 28, 1 794. Alexander DufiP March 28, 1794. Alexander Houstoun July 1 5, 1 795. P. W. Buller June 27, 1796. Daniel Hoghton April, 1 798. Richard Vandeleur April 1, 1804. William Ironmonger John Silver Daniel Colquhoun Christopher Vowell R. B. M'Pherson R. B. M'Gregor John Dunne Joseph Thompson W. C. Seton C. M. Graham R. N. Nickle Henry Heathcote Harris Hailes William Onslow Robert O'Hara W. H. Eden William Mackie September 18, 1804. September 19, 1804. November 23, 1804. March 10, 1810. March 17, 1808. November 23, 1809. October 25, 1810. August 4, 1811. October 30, 1812. November 28, 1816 November 28, 1822 October 6, 1825. May 2.'), 1826. February 15, 1827. May 14, 1829. July 2, 1829. Nov. 10, 1837. Datv of Promotion ut Removitl. To 4th foot. To Lieut.-Col. 88th. To 57th foot. To half-pay. To 8th foot. 1 Died in Portugal, I 1809. To 2nd foot. Killedat Busaco,18l0. To 7th garrison batt. Retired. To half-pay. To half-pay. To half-pay. Killed at Badajoz. To half-pay. , Retired. . ToLient.-Col.inl825. Died in 1829. Lieut.-Col. 29th foot. To half-pay. To Lieut.-Col. unatt. KIGIITY-KIUIITtl, OK RiTVHN of the Namrr of the OfviviNi, and the Ntimb«. H.*F. HarJU. H.« F, / Major Ironmonger \ ('apt. M'Plierson r ,, Dunn 1 ,, Chlnholm , , Seton 1 I , , Peshall 1 ( I. lent. Tliumpiuii Llout. Ailair 1 l)u(iin I.ieut. Beresford J , , ArinstronK 1 1 20 3 54 19lh January. 1812. J ,, W.Kin«Bmill T , , Johnston Major Thompson . Capt. Lindsay Brev.-Major Murphy . Capt. Peshall Radajoz, 1 Lieut. North Lieut. Stewart 24th March, to 6th ' , , JohE^ton (2) . , Faris 6 43 10 1C6 April, 1812. , , Man-iduM Lapt. Oiites , , Ccttnsii Lif'Lt. Armstrong ,. Mc. Alpla , , Davcrn , . Whitf/iaw 1 Ensign Gratt.in Jt !(tiiuiiiiiiiiun«!(l y tliu Kiiumy, ••iiinini,nunl.) })7 riiir* anil llala ul AcUuH. ' NUTUtl. 1 \V'iiiiiiil>il. Null iiii i..n*Kiohtii, or Cdnnauuht Ranokus, who died of Wuundi, Fatii^uu, &c., from 10(17 to 1814. Hunk and Nuniu. I'lnco and Date urDecciiao. Major Vandaluiir . , Diud nt Cumpo Mayor in 1809. Captain Itrowii . . . , Pinliol in 1810. Lieut. Sliaw . . . , , Lawmin . . ! , , sea wlien returning from South America in 1807 ,. Smith . . Salamanca in 1813. . , Uutledgt' , . LcKnn in 1813. Eniiign Jackxoii , , sea. prmi-oding to South Ameticii, in I8O7. .. Hnll . . . , . Madi-ii in 1808. , , Fnwcei t . . , , near Sulamaiica in 1813. ARgt ^ • 1 Cunniui; tmm ,, ut Likhon in 1811. PuymujtiT Ruf^era . • ,, BeleminlSlS. Captain Adair . . •{ After lingering upwards of two years, dii»d in conaeqiiencit uf a 8i'Von> wound received at Salaniiinun. Lieut. Stewart . . a Died imf.iediately after liis return from .South Amerifa. Enaign M'Qregor . « ,, at I'oiismoiilli, alter laniliiu; from Cadiz. ., Hacket . . AB.STRACT. • , , Berry-heiul su;racious favour. The imtuie of the giillnnt scrvioos Tlie Titles, Medals, or ollior Rank iiiul Names. or meritoriouH uuiidiict uf the miirkii of His Majesty's Otilcoig. h'raciuus favuiir. Lt.Col. Beresford \ ^ ,. Duff Major Houghton Captain Vandelem- 1 , , Silver 1 , , Beiesford , , Trotter , , M'Grej;or • Lieut. Blake , , Murphy , , Browne For their services in the In- dian army which crossed the Desert to Kgyjit in .\ Medal from the Grand Seignor. , , Canilac 1801. , , Gates i , , Atkinson 1 , , Irwin , , , Adair , , M'Dougall Ensign Rogers Adjt. Thompson Surgeon M'Gn-gor / Asst.-Surg. Taimry A Cross and Seven Clasps, and appointed For his distinguished con- G.C.B. K.G., Cross of duct at Corunna, Basaco, the Royal Hanoverian Lieut-Gen. Viscount Albuera, Badajoz, Sala-7 manca, Vittoria, Pyrenees Guelphic Order,Grand Beresford Cross, Tower & Sword, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and St. Ferdinand, and of Toulouse. Merit, and of St. Her- nunegeld and St. Fer- k nando. In command of the regiment at the actions of Busaco, A Medal and two Clasps, Lt.-Gn. J.A.Wallace' Fuentes d'Onor, and Sala- manca. and appointed C.B. In command of the regiment ^ A Medal and two Clasps, and appointed C.B. Lievit.-Gt'n. Sir Jonn. at the actions of Nivelle, Taylor Orthes, and Toulouse. CONNAUGIIT RANGEKS. Okvicbks with Honorary Distinctions, 8ic.—{ContiHiiefl.) 99 Rank and Names. Col. James Fergusson . Col. Geo. O'Malli'v J Lt.-Col. Kt. Barclay! Mac|)herson j Major VV. C. Sctoa Lt.-Col. C. Tryon Major B. Muiphy , , G. H. Dansey ,, R. N.Nickle I , , John Stewart J. , , Oatf s ,, Maokie Lt. & Adj.D. Suuter < Payin. P. V. Robinson I The niitiire or llio gallant services ur meritorious conduct or the Officer*. In command of )he advance of the light division at Badajoz, when Caiitaiii in the 43rd regiment. For services as a Stdialtern \\\ the l.'Jth regiment with the army in Egyiit in 1801. For comanding Second Bat- talion 44th regiment in the battle of VVaterloo in 1815. In command of the regiment ' at Vittoria and Urthes. In command of the regiment at Badajuz and Salamanca Assistant- Adjutant General with the army in the Py- renees. Fur his distinguished ser- vices at Buenos Ayres in 1807, on the staff" of the army. For his conduct in the action at Busaco, '27th Sept., 1810. In command of the light" battalion of the third divi- sion at Nivelle. For his distinguished ser- - vices at Fuentes d'Onor, on the 3rd and 5th May^ 1811. For services in the Field. For servicis in the Fii-ld. As Lieutenant in the 71st Light Infantry at Wa- terloo. As Paymaster in the Second Battalion 6'Jth regiment at Waterloo. Tlie Titles, Medals, or other marks of His Majesty's gracious ftvour. ' A Medal. A Medal from the Grand Seignor. A Medal, and apjiointed C.B. A Medal and one Clasp. and apponited C.B. and K.U. A Medal and one Clasp, and appointed C.B. A Medal. Received the Br» vet rank of Major in the army. Ditto. The Brevet rank of Ma- jor, a Medal, and ap- pointed K.II. Received the Brevet rank of Major in the army. Received the Brevet rank of Major in the army, and appointed to the third class of the Roy- al Hanoverian Order. Appointed to the third class of the Royal Ha^ noverian Order. A Medal. A Medal. 100 KIGHTY-KIGIITII, OH Rktuun of the Nuu-Cuinmissioiied Officers, DrumnnerH, and Privates uf the EiaHTY-EiuHTii RuuiMtNT, OT CoNNAL'ouT Kanueus, whu received Medals under the sanction of His Royal Hii^hnessthe Duke of York, ])er Adjutant-Ge- neral's Letter, dated the 20th day of June, 1818, fur their Services during the Peninsular War from the year 180!) tothe year 1814. I ! FIRST CLASS.— Foit Twelve Genehal Actions. Rank and Nanii-s. Kiink ami Names. Rank and Names. PuiVATES. Rank and Names. Skhjeanjs. COKI'OHAIS. PulVATES. 1 James Birds John Phair Fras. Connolly Wm. Milton Pat. Braztll () Law. Redmond Pat. Curren Alex. Mancur James Bowmer 10 Pat. Doras Pat. Muldoun Pat. Carmody Dul'mmeks. Bryan Farrell 30 Jas. O'Flanagan 5 Pat. Cawly 1 Jas. Baxtir Kdwd. Freill Wm. Oldershaw Alex Coleman Mat. Durinan Bern. Faris Pat. Philbin Martin Conway Pat. Fox Thos. Heffion Hugh Rogers Benj. Corbttt Pat. Leonard IT) Alex. Hogg Owen Riilly Kdw. Irwin Jds. Mackenzie Thos. Hodges 3.) Thos. Shea 10 John Husband C Fras. White Henry Joyce Wm. Salisbury Mich. O'Neill Timy. Kelly Geo. Taplin Sj.-M M.Spellacy Phivai'es. Edwd. King Patt. Tumond 13 Barth. Flanagan I Law. Barclay '20 Dan. Leonard Wm. Walker Darby Burns [..aw. Leonard 40 John Webb CollPOllALS. Chas. lioyle Dan. Logan Bryan M'Cullen 1 Pat. Boyle Patt. Brennan Sam. Langsdale Patrick Hopkins Pat. Cooiiey Win. Btiwles John Lloyd Mich. Bradley Wm. Lyons Wm. Brearton 2,j Pat.M^aughlin John Mears John Nutsford Rob. Cahill* Luke M'Gann 45 John Croucher * Robert Caliill v ras transferred as Serj eant to the Thirty-Fi St regiment, for the purpose of being Pay-Serjeant to Captain Bray, who exchanged from the Eighty- KiaiiTii, with Captain Hutton. Cahill was on board the Kent East Indiaman, when she took fire in the Bay of Biscay, and from the account given by Captain Bray, his conduct and extraordinary exer tions on that trying occasion were most exemplary and conspicuous. Having lost his Medal (vviiich was of the First Class) and all his necessaries, the Non-Commiss ioned Officers and Privates of the Liglit Company (in which Company Cahill ser ved during the whole of the Peninsular war) made a subscription amongst them of Five Pounds to purchase him a kit, which sum was sent to him by Lieutenar it and Adjutant Souter, who at the same time made him the present of a Medal, which he forwarded through the Horse Guards. C;ONNAUGHT RANGERS. lOl NuN-CuMMissiuNEU Ofvickhs, &c., wliu rcceivvd Medals — {Conlinued.) SECOND CLASS. — Fkom Sktkn to Ei.kvbn Gkneuai. Actions. Rank iinil Names. SKItJE\NT!«. 1 Iiwin Beatty B. Dumphy Rd. Gardner Sum. Kennedy 5 John M'Manus Moses Martin 7 Thos. Moore. CoiU'OHAI.S. 1 Jas. Brazell Jn. Cunniiighan^ Andw. Dykus Mich. Flynn 5 Thos. Hennesey Win. Irwinu Thos. Smith John Yates D John Hannah. DuUMMEItS. Jacob Cooe Isaac Cuoe 3 Jas. Gough. Phivates. .las. Andersiin Wm. Anderson Denis Barry John Burke .') Andrew Burns Wm. Barlow Rolit. Barry Jas. Brien Pat. Bojle 10 Rob. Beatty Thos. Byrne Hen. Bell Pat. Bel ton Itank and Numes. Privates. Rank nnd Names. Rank and Names. Rich. Bryan 15 Peter Burke Rob. Craige Miche Campbell Js. Cdvanaj;h(l) Dan. Crowly 20 Peter Caffray John Carroll Js. Cavanaj5h(2j Patt. Corcoran Jas. Carter Peter Connors IVIich. Connors John Coyne Martin Chasty Rt Chaudlehouse 30 Mich. Conroy John Cahill Jiis. Cr.iddock Mich. Dawson Thos. Jiailey 3J Hugh Daly Patt. Dignan Jos. Dwyer John Darcy Pat. Darcy -10 .John Davis Mich. Devine Jas. Devine Miles Durcan John Dougherty -15 (ieo. Dowlan John Dnndon John Donovan George Eyres John Farrell (1) :)0 John Farrell (2) John Farrell (3) OJ GO 65 70 J.-) 80 85 PmVATES. John Farragher Maur. Fitzgerald Mich. Finen Thus. Flanagan John Fallon John Fitzpatrick Pat. Farrill Jas. Gaven Martin Gdlan Bern. Gray J as. 6af}'ney John Glancey John Grady Pat. Hearns Andrew Holmes John Higgins Hen. Hailey Pat, House Mich. Hussy Pat. Horn Mich. Hearne Pat.Kearns Jolin Kilmartin Jolin Kelly Tim. Kelly Jas. Kerso Wm. Karsons John Killerlane John Kur.'ijan Owen Kilroy Owen Lynch Peter MCoy Henry M'Manus Hugh M'Guire Ed. M'tJormitk Thos. M'Kenna Hugh M'Mahon Philip M'Carty Phivates. 'JO Rob. M'Grath John M-Manus Owen M'Gown Thos. M'Caua Wm. Maclean 95 Wm. Mawn Law. Mahon Patt. Morgan John Meolieu Philex Murphy 100 Mich. Maxwell Owen Mulvey Pat. Newell Mich. O'Brien Joliu 0'(;onnor 105 Th. O'Laughlin Wm. Rochibrd Patt. ReiUy Hugh Ruurke Dudley Scanlon 110 John Shannon John Scaunell John Stewart Alex. Shannon I Mich. Suckling 115 Phil. Sullivan Ths. Sweeny(l) Jon.Tliomiison J ames Treacy Daniel Tighe 110 Thos. Wilson Mich.Walsh(l) Denis Wardock Rol.t. Will AlfX. Williams 125 Thos. Wiltshire 126 Francis Walsh 102 EIGHTY-KIGHTII, OR NuN-CoHMisaioNBD Ofkioerb, &c., who received Medals — (^Continued.) ^. ■i THIRD CLASa— From 0^ B TO Six Gknehal / LCTI0N8. Rank and Names. Sbhjkants. Rnuk and Names. Rank and Names. Rank and Names. Pkivatk*. PltlVATES. Privates. 1 SJ.-M. B.O'NfiU 1 James Anker John Cox John Hughes Qm.-S.W. Smith Andrew Arrago 40 Pat. Crowley Mich. Harris M. Babington Wm. Archer Antony Dailey Tim. Hand John Gillis John Boyland Jas.Doughert 80 Kdw. Howell 5 John Ingham 5 Hen. Burke Pat. Dalton And. Mill John Little Thos. Burnett Dav. Dunwoody Thos. Hill Edw. M'Nuhy Kdw. Brennan 45 David Dunnon Thos. Higgins Thos. Mullen Thos. Burns Mich. Doyle Thomas Holmes Peter Moian Thomas Bowles Pat. Devine 85 David Hennessy 10 Thos. MilU 10 Hugh Brady Fergus Devine Mau. Hunt Pat. Minaghan Thomas Beckitt Wm. Daniels Pat. Hennessy John Nicholson Andw. Brady 50 Dan. Dowde John Hennessy John O'Brien Jos. Brennan Jas. Donovan Mau. Hennessy Geo. Phair " Wm. Burke Mich. Dunn 90 Denis Hartt Thos. Power l.'> Kidmd. Barry Wm. Dalton Rich. Jones Pat. Prior Mich. Brien Pat. Dailey Rob. Irwine PatShaiighuessy Steph. Burgoy i .^5 Pat. Duffin Wm. Kearney Jas. Smith John Brennan Jas. Dunleavy James Kelly 19 Charles Lewis. John Connolly Wm. Elliott 95 Henry Kerr 20 John Carlton Thos. Flynne James Kilfoyle Pat. Clarke Jas. Flynne Bart. Kilbride CoUPORAI.S. Thos. Corrigan 60 Mich. Fahey James Knight 1 James Gostello Mich. Carty Thomas Farii* Henry Knight John Feeney Hen. Clarke James Fox 100 Philip Lanugan Pat. Hearne 25 John Comptoii Hugh Fay Christ. Loughry Peter Higgins Thos. Castilloe Luke Flanaghan Tun. Lanagan 5 Ter. Kelly Pat. Croughan 65 Pat. Farilly Christ. Lee Jas. Kelly Steph. Cuddy Rd. Foley John Leeson . Jas. Reynolds Beru.Cumeri'ord Pat. Fitzgerald 105 SI, Lewismoore PatShaughnessy ■'{0 Barth. Cullen Mich. Fitzgibboi) Lau. Lane \Vm. Topper James Chambers Pat. Glancy Thos. Little 10 Win. Waters. Bernard Cuffe 70 Corn. Grogan John Lyster Pat. Connors Peter Garrick Wm. Lewis Dan. Ciowly Pat. Gallagher 110 Wm. Longhead Dkummkks. 35 Th.is. Connell Thos. Grady W. M'Chestiiy Jas. Arkwell Martin Connolly W^m. Gordon Chs.M'Dermott Alex. Douglas Furrell Cunniffe 75 And. Gorman Hugh M'Mahon 3 Jas. Ogilvie Pat. Conway Wm. Hannah M. M'Laughlin ed.) N limes. CONN AUGHT RANGERS. 103 N()N-CiiMMissioNKi> Okkicers, &f,, wlio reciiiveil Mudals — {Cunlinued.) THIRD CLASS.— Con/i«»W. Kniik aiitl Nuines. Kank and Numus. Kank and Namn. Privates. Rank and Names. PlllVATES. PltlVATES. Pkivaies. lir, Thox.M'Cue Ueiiis Miirjihy Wm. Pendleton Fraucis Sims Alex. M'Kerktr Hugh Moore Edw. Quinn 170 John Smith Mich. IVI'Nama 13,') Lau. Maliony James Quinn John To))in Ow. M'Derinott Wm. Moffe.t Thos. Kafferty Mich. Travers John M'Il(;iin John Murphy 1').') Jn. Richardson Wm. Travers 120 Jas. M'Gowan benj. Mann Eilw. Rattigan JohnThomoud Jiihn M'CulIen Pat. Matthews John Robinson 175 Nich. White Jas. M'Derinott 140 Bern. Newman Bern. Rooney Patt. Wynne Thos. M'Cale Jas. Neale John Reilly (1) Peter Ward Jas. M'Intush Wm. Neyland 160 Edw. King Peter Wynne 12') Sam. M-Connell Mich. Newell Thos. Ross James Waller Pat. M'Coiiville Dav. Needham Thos. Regan 180 Denis Woods Pat.ni'Murren 1J5 Edw. O'Brien John Reardon Owen White Thos. M'Grath John Powell Patt. Sheridan Thos. M'ard Jere.M'Carthy Wm. Phibbs 1G5 Mich. Swift Mich. Walsh 130 Thos. W'Keai Jas, Price Hugh Saint Edw. Walsh H. Mulhollaml Mich. Pettit John Shaw ISo John Young George Mullen 150 Mich. Price Denis Sweeny No. of First Class Si'ijts. ('oq). llrs. ^ri^ 13 6 6 4: , , Second Class 7 9 3 12() , , Third Class 19 10 3 18. 5 Total iiiimber of Medals 30 2.-) 12 35( )