Part 5
The British Government having resolved to effect the expulsion of the French from Egypt, an army[9] amounting to about fifteen thousand men, of which the NINETY-SECOND formed part, was assembled under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, at Marmorice Bay, on the coast of Asiatic Turkey. The regiment sailed from Malta on the 26th of December, and arrived at Marmorice Bay on the 29th. During the foregoing period, the regiment was occasionally landed for exercise and practice, as if before an enemy.
[Sidenote: 1801]
Some weeks were lost at Marmorice, in expectation of receiving reinforcements of Greeks and Turks; and the expedition did not proceed to its final destination until the 23rd of February, 1801. On the 2nd of March, it anchored in the Bay of Aboukir, eastward of Alexandria; but notwithstanding all the exertions of the navy, under Admiral Lord Keith’s orders, the necessary arrangements could not be made for landing the troops, until a week afterwards, in consequence of unfavorable weather, and other obstructions.
A landing was effected on the 8th of March; a body of French troops, supported by several batteries, awaited the arrival of their opponents, but were forced to give way in defiance of every exertion, and after severe loss on both sides.
The NINETY-SECOND, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Erskine, landed during the action, and took up a position for the night on the heights of Aboukir. The regiment mustered one lieut.-colonel, two majors, six captains, ten lieutenants, six ensigns, six staff, fifty serjeants, twenty-two drummers, and six hundred and seventy-two rank and file.
On the 9th of March, the regiment advanced about a mile further towards _Alexandria_. On the day following, it marched to the heights of _Mandora_, and remained in position, while the artillery and stores were being landed. Nothing of importance occurred this day, beyond a smart skirmish, as the enemy slowly retired.
The army again moved forward on the 12th of March, and came in sight of the enemy, who was strongly posted with his right to the canal of _Alexandria_, and his left to the sea.
About six o’clock in the morning of the 13th of March, the British army advanced to attack the enemy’s position on the heights in front of _Mandora_, the NINETY-SECOND being directed to lead the left column into action. The enemy having opened a most destructive fire from his artillery, enfiladed the column to its whole depth: orders were consequently given to deploy into line. The enemy thought this a favorable moment, and immediately advanced to the attack. The NINETY-SECOND, being in advance of the line, was exposed to a very galling fire of grape-shot, and at the same time was attacked by the 61st Demi-Brigade; the regiment, however, continued unshaken in its advance to the very muzzles of the guns, and succeeded in taking two field-pieces, and one howitzer, completely routing the enemy who defended them, and possessing itself of the right of his position. He was forced, therefore, to retire to the fortified heights of Nicopolis, under the walls of Alexandria, to which they form the principal defence from that side.
Lieut.-Colonel, afterwards General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, in his History of the British Expedition to Egypt, stated that—
“The British had not advanced out of the wood of date trees, which was in front of Mandora Tower, before the enemy left the heights on which they had been formed, and moved down by their right, commencing a heavy fire of musketry, and from all their cannon, on the NINETY-SECOND regiment, which formed the advanced guard of the left column.” After eulogising the gallantry of the ninetieth regiment, which formed the advanced guard of the right column, Lieut.-Colonel Wilson, added:—
“The conduct of the NINETY-SECOND had been no less meritorious. Opposed to a tremendous fire, and suffering severely from the French line, they never receded a foot, but maintained the contest alone, until the marines and the rest of the line came to their support.”
The gallantry and good conduct of the regiment this day were most conspicuous, and in commemoration thereof, the NINETY-SECOND afterwards received the Royal Authority to bear the word “_Mandora_” on the regimental colour and appointments.
His Majesty’s service, and the NINETY-SECOND regiment in particular, sustained a great loss in the death of Lieut.-Colonel Charles Erskine, who was mortally wounded early in the action, when the command of the regiment devolved on Major Alexander Napier.
The following officers were wounded: Captains Hon. John Ramsay and Archibald McDonell; Lieutenants, Norman McLeod, Charles Dowle (mortally), Donald McDonald, Tomlin Campbell (mortally), Alexander Clarke (mortally), and Ronald Macdonald; Ensigns, Peter Wilkie and Alexander Cameron; twenty-two rank and file were killed, and seventy-seven were wounded.
On the 14th of March, the army occupied the position, from which the enemy was driven the day before, and the troops were employed in throwing up works. On this day, General Sir Ralph Abercromby thanked the troops for their soldier-like and intrepid conduct, in the action of yesterday, and particularised the NINETY-SECOND regiment. It may not be irrelevant to state, that he selected the regiment to furnish the guard at his head-quarters from his first landing in Egypt, to the hour of his death; and the regiment was continued by Lieut.-General (afterwards Lord) Hutchinson, on that duty, until its final departure from that country.
In consequence of the reduced state of the regiment from sickness, and the casualties of the 13th of March, it was ordered on the 20th of March (with the exception of the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard), to march at three o’clock next morning to relieve the battalion of marines at Aboukir Castle; where the following Brigade Order was issued:—
“Major-General Coote feels extreme concern, that the NINETY-SECOND regiment is ordered to march to Aboukir; he hopes they will soon return to the army, and cannot part with that corps without requesting, that the officers and men will accept his best thanks, for their attention to their duty since they have been under his command.”
About half an hour after the regiment commenced its march on the 21st of March for Aboukir, when the French forces at _Alexandria_, having been augmented by the arrival of additional troops from the interior, advanced under General Menou, to attack the British position. Major Alexander Napier, upon hearing the firing, immediately countermarched the regiment, and resumed his former station in the line, in which it was hotly engaged throughout the day: no sooner had the enemy retired from this struggle, and resigned the victory to the British army, than the army became aware of the loss it had sustained in the Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who received a mortal wound at the commencement of the action, but which he concealed until the battle was decided. Sir Ralph Abercromby died on the 28th of March, and was buried at Malta.
The NINETY-SECOND had Captain John Cameron, and Lieutenant James Stewart Mathison wounded; three rank and file killed; and forty-four wounded.
Orders were again issued for the march of the regiment on the following morning, provided no attack was made by the enemy, and it accordingly marched to _Aboukir_.
On the 2nd of May, the regiment marched from Aboukir for _Rosetta_, where a Turkish force joined the British; on the 5th it advanced along the banks of the Nile, and continued in motion until the 16th of June, when it arrived before _Grand-Cairo_.
The regiment moved to the right on the 21st of June, and encamped before the town of _Gizeh_; one of the gates of which place was delivered up by the French on the 28th of June.
A convention with the garrison of _Cairo_, was on the following day announced as finally adjusted, by which that place was to be delivered up to the allied army, and the French troops to be transported to France.
On the 14th of July, Lieut.-General Hutchinson communicated to the army the thanks of His Majesty, and of both Houses of Parliament, for its determined bravery at the landing, and in the actions of the 13th, and 21st of March, and concluded by a warm eulogium from himself.
The army marched, and retraced its steps towards _Rosetta_. The promotion of Major Alexander Napier to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel Erskine, killed in the action of the 13th of March, was announced in a manner most flattering to the corps on the 15th of July, as will appear from the following extract of a letter from His Royal Highness the Duke of York, the Commander-in-Chief, dated—
“_Horse Guards, 30th May, 1801._
“MY LORD,
“I need not assure you how sincerely I unite with you in regretting the loss of so deserving an officer as Lieutenant-Colonel Erskine, of the NINETY-SECOND regiment. I have ever entertained too high a sense of the gallant services of that corps, not to have recommended upon this occasion, that the succession should go in the regiment, of which His Majesty has been pleased to approve.
“I am, &c. (Signed) “FREDERICK, “_Commander-in-Chief_.
“_Major-General The Marquis of Huntly._”
The regiment arrived on the heights of _Aboukir_ on the 8th of August, and on the following day marched to the same position which it had left on the 22nd of March, and encamped before Alexandria.
The brigade under the orders of Brigadier-General John Doyle, Colonel of the eighty-seventh regiment, advanced before daylight on the 17th of August to attack two redoubts, situated on the green-hill in front of the enemy’s right, which the thirtieth and fiftieth regiments were directed against, while the NINETY-SECOND was placed as a reserve, and ready to support either. This service was successfully performed with little loss to the regiment.
Troops having been sent in boats on the 26th of August to land, and break ground to the westward of _Alexandria_, the enemy this day sent out a flag of truce, and hostilities ceased; on the 2nd of September, Alexandria surrendered by capitulation, which event terminated the campaign in Egypt.
The British troops received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and His Majesty King George III., conferred upon the NINETY-SECOND, and other regiments, which had thus exalted the military fame of Great Britain, by the expulsion of the “invincible” legions of Bonaparte from Egypt, from whence he had expected to extend his conquests throughout Asia, the honor of bearing on their colours and appointments the “SPHINX,” and the word “EGYPT,” as a distinguished mark of His Majesty’s royal approbation of their conduct during the campaign.[10]
The Grand Seignior established the Order of Knighthood of the Crescent, of which the General Officers were made members; and large gold medals were presented to the field officers, captains, and subalterns. As a further proof of the estimation in which the Grand Seignior held the services of the British soldiers in Egypt, he ordered a palace to be built at Constantinople, for the future residence of the British Ambassadors.
Names of the officers of the NINETY-SECOND regiment, who received gold medals for service in Egypt.
_Lieutenant-Colonel_ Alexander Napier. _Major_ John Gordon.
_Captains._
John Cameron. | Archibald McDonell. The Hon. John Ramsay. | Peter Grant. Andrew Patten. | Patrick Gordon.
_Lieutenants._
Norman McLeod. | James Bent. Charles Dowle. | Ronald Macdonald. Donald McDonald. | James Stewart Mathison. John Forman. | Charles Straubenzie. James Lee. | William Phipps. George W. Holmes. |
_Ensigns._
Peter Wilkie. | Charles Duddingstone. William Mackay. | Alexander Cameron. Alexander Anderson. | William Logie.
_Paymaster_ Archibald Campbell. _Adjutant_ Dugald Campbell. _Quarter-Master_ Peter Wilkie. _Surgeon_ Archibald Hamilton. _Assist.-Surgeons._ { Wm. Cook. { J. R. Hume.
The regiment marched for Aboukir on the 6th of October, 1801, and embarked in ships of war, which sailed on the following day.
Upon the guard of the NINETY-SECOND, which had been doing duty at head-quarters, being ordered to rejoin, the officer commanding the regiment received a letter expressive of Lieut.-General Hutchinson’s “entire approbation of the exemplary conduct of the guard, and of Serjeant Mark in particular.”
On the 19th of October, the regiment arrived at Malta, and remained in harbour until the 15th of November, when the ships sailed for the shores of Great Britain.
[Sidenote: 1802]
The regiment arrived at Cork on the 30th of January, 1802, and remained under quarantine at Cove, until the 12th of February, when it landed and marched to Kilkenny. The effective strength consisted of one lieut.-colonel, two majors, four captains, fifteen lieutenants, five ensigns, six staff, forty-two serjeants, twenty-two drummers, and five hundred and fifty-nine rank and file.
On the 27th of March, 1802, a definitive treaty of peace was signed at Amiens between the French Republic, Spain, and the Batavian Republic, on the one part, and Great Britain on the other. The principal features of the treaty were, that Great Britain restored all her conquests during the war, excepting Trinidad and Ceylon, which were ceded to her, the former by Spain, and the latter by the Batavian Republic. Portugal was maintained in its integrity, excepting that some of its possessions in Guiana were ceded to France. The territories of the Ottoman Porte were likewise maintained in their integrity. The Ionian Republic was recognised, and Malta was to be restored to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The French agreed to evacuate the Neapolitan and Roman States, and Great Britain all the ports that she held in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
The regiment on the 5th of April received orders to fire a _feu-de-joie_, in consequence of the treaty of peace concluded at Amiens. On the 12th of April, the regiment marched from Kilkenny, and arrived at Belfast on the 28th of that month, where it remained until the 2nd of June, when it embarked for Scotland.
On the 4th of June, the regiment arrived in Scotland for the first time since it was raised, and proceeded to Glasgow.
[Sidenote: 1803]
The peace of Amiens was of short duration; it inspired no confidence of ultimate tranquillity, and both parties remained prepared to renew the contest. The chief complaint on the part of France was the non-evacuation of Malta by the British troops, and the asylum afforded to the enemies of the French government. Circumstances had, however, occurred which would have rendered the restoration of Malta to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem equivalent to ceding that island to France. Other grounds of irritation existed, and the designs of Napoleon Bonaparte to raise the power of France by an extension of territorial dominion, to which England appeared a barrier, caused the struggle to be renewed; and the contest was not settled until the final defeat of the French at the battle of Waterloo, on the memorable 18th of June, 1815, by the allied troops under the Duke of Wellington.
On the 18th of May, 1803, war was declared against France; Hanover was overrun by the French, and severed for a time from the British crown; and the First Consul ordered the arrest of all British subjects in the territories of the French and Batavian republics.
Preparations were made by the British Government to meet the emergency; the “_Army of Reserve Act_” was passed in June, 1803, for raising men for home service by ballot, by which a second battalion was added to the NINETY-SECOND regiment. The second battalion was to be composed from the balloted men raised in Scotland for limited service, and was placed on the Establishment from the 9th of July following.
In June, the regiment was removed from Glasgow to Colchester, and on the 1st of July it marched to Weeley, where it encamped while the barracks were being prepared, which were occupied by the regiment during the winter.
The second battalion of the regiment was formed at Weeley, on the 24th of November, 1803; officers and non-commissioned officers, with a proportion of old soldiers, being posted to it from the first battalion for the purpose of instruction. Both battalions were commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Napier.
Each battalion was to have ten companies, consisting of fifty-four serjeants, twenty drummers, two fifers, and a thousand rank and file.
At this period Bonaparte was making preparations for the invasion of England, for which purpose he collected an immense flotilla at Boulogne. The threat of invasion aroused the patriotism of the British people, and the most strenuous measures were pursued to defeat the designs of the French Ruler; volunteer and yeomanry corps were formed in every part of the kingdom, and all parties united in one grand effort for the preservation of Great Britain.
[Sidenote: 1804]
In May, 1804, Napoleon was invested with the dignity of _Emperor of the French_, and on the 26th of May, of the following year, he was crowned at Milan as _King of Italy_.
Further measures of defence were adopted by Great Britain, and the “_Additional Force Act_” was passed on the 14th July, 1804.
Both battalions marched to Colchester on the 24th of July, and on the 6th of August were encamped on Lexden Heath.
On the 24th of October orders were issued for the march of one captain, one subaltern, four serjeants, four corporals, and one drummer to Elgin, from the second battalion, to receive the men to be raised under the “_Additional Force Act_.”
Both battalions broke up from Lexden camp on the 26th of October, and marched to Weeley barracks.
Orders were received on the 25th of November for the second battalion to be held in readiness to march from Weeley barracks, and proceed by the inland navigation to Liverpool, from whence it was to embark for Ireland. The second battalion accordingly marched in three divisions, on the 29th of November and on the two following days.
The first battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Napier, remained in Weeley barracks during the winter.
[Sidenote: 1805]
During the summer of 1805, the first battalion was brigaded with the forty-second, ninety-first, and ninety-fifth (Rifle) regiments. On the 2nd of September, the battalion marched from Weeley to Colchester; on the 4th of September the first battalion was ordered to hold itself in readiness for embarkation, but on the 6th of September it returned to Weeley barracks.
The first battalion marched, on the 7th of October, to Colchester with other troops, and was reviewed by His Royal Highness the Duke of York, the Commander-in-Chief, who expressed himself particularly pleased with the appearance of the battalion, which returned to its quarters at Weeley on the 18th of October.
While the French were pursuing their victorious career in Germany, they experienced great reverses from the British navy. On the 21st of October, the combined fleets of France and Spain were defeated off Cape Trafalgar; but the victory was purchased with the loss of Admiral Viscount Nelson, whose remains were honored with a public funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the first battalion of the NINETY-SECOND regiment attended the ceremony.
On the 29th of October, the first battalion marched from Weeley, and arrived at Ospringe barracks on the 6th of November; on the 26th of November it marched to Canterbury.
[Sidenote: 1806]
The first battalion marched, on the 2nd of January, 1806, to London, to attend the public funeral of Admiral Viscount Nelson, whose remains were interred, on the 9th of January, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, where a monument was erected by authority of Parliament at the public expense.
Major-General the Hon. John Hope, from the sixtieth regiment, (afterwards the Earl of Hopetoun,) was appointed by His Majesty King George III. to be colonel of the NINETY-SECOND regiment, on the 3rd of January, 1806, in succession to Major-General the Marquis of Huntly, who was removed to the forty-second, or the Royal Highlanders, on the decease of General Sir Hector Munro, K.B.
The first battalion marched, on the 11th of January, from London for Colchester, where it arrived on the 15th of that month: it marched to Weeley barracks on the 29th of May, where it remained stationary, with the exception of occasional marches to and from Colchester, for the purpose of being exercised with other brigades.
[Sidenote: 1807]
On the 3rd of February, 1807, the first battalion marched from Weeley for Harwich, with the view of checking the infection of ophthalmia, which then prevailed among the troops at Weeley. The first battalion returned to Weeley on the 27th of April.
Information having been obtained that Napoleon purposed employing the navy of _Denmark_ against Great Britain, an armament was prepared for obtaining possession of the Danish fleet by treaty or force, on the assurance that it should be restored at the conclusion of the war with France. The first battalion was destined to share in this enterprise, and it received orders, on the 22nd of July, to be in readiness for foreign service.
The battalion, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Napier, marched for Harwich on the 26th of July, and embarked on the same day, after being inspected by Lieut.-General Sir David Baird. On the 27th a draft of one hundred and three rank and file joined from the second battalion: the effective strength of the first battalion consisted of forty-eight serjeants, nineteen drummers, and nine hundred and eighty-one rank and file.
On the 1st of August, the expedition sailed, and on the 8th anchored in the Sound near Elsineur. On the following day, Lieut.-General Harry Burrard[11] directed the army assembling in the Sound to be formed in brigades and divisions, and that the forty-third, fifty-second, NINETY-SECOND, and ninety-fifth (Rifle) regiments should compose the reserve, under Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, until the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief.
Lieut.-General Lord Cathcart arrived on the 12th of August, and assumed the command of the army; on the 14th the fleet sailed towards _Copenhagen_, and on the 16th of August the army landed at Vedeck, in Zealand, situated about half-way between Elsineur and Copenhagen, without opposition, and on the following day the regiment went into cantonments in Hassan, and Broomskoy. Its movements were various, and dependent upon circumstances during this period.
The NINETY-SECOND regiment advanced towards Roeskelde on the 26th of August, in consequence of the enemy collecting a large force at the town of _Kioge_ and its vicinity, for the purpose of being thrown into _Copenhagen_, which was at this time invested by the British army.
On the 29th of August, the division under Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley advanced to attack the Danes in their position. The NINETY-SECOND regiment, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Napier, was appointed to lead the infantry against the enemy’s camp, in which the regiment charged him, driving him out of it, and through the town of Kioge, with the loss of his artillery. The regiment had two rank and file killed, and one wounded.