Part 4

Colonel John Adlercron was appointed to the colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 14th of March 1752, in succession to Brigadier-General Edward Richbell, removed to the Seventeenth foot.

[Sidenote: 1754.]

In the beginning of 1754, the THIRTY-NINTH proceeded from Ireland to the East Indies, being the _first_ King’s regiment employed in that country.

[Sidenote: 1756.]

The regiment remained at Madras until 1756, when events transpired which occasioned a portion of the THIRTY-NINTH to be embarked for Bengal. Upon the decease of Allaverdy Khan, in April 1756, Surajah Dowlah was proclaimed Soubah, or Nabob of Bengal. During nearly half a century the British at Calcutta had pursued a profitable commerce in peace; but the new ruler soon evinced his hostility to them, and taking the field shortly afterwards, with a numerous army, invested Calcutta, which was captured by him on the 20th of June. Then followed that awful sacrifice of life in the “_Black Hole_,” a dungeon at Calcutta only eighteen feet square, into which one hundred and forty-six of the prisoners were thrust, and on the following morning only twenty-three survived,--their unfortunate companions having perished from suffocation.

Dark was the cloud which hung over the affairs of the East India Company at this period; self-preservation made it imperative to adopt measures of retaliation, and it was a proud epoch in the career of the THIRTY-NINTH when a portion of the regiment was selected for service in Bengal, where the subsequent successes, obtained under Lieut.-Colonel Clive, dispersed the prevailing gloom, and paved the way for British ascendancy in India.

The intelligence of these events reached Madras in August 1756, and it was determined to send a force to Bengal, of which Colonel Adlercron, of the THIRTY-NINTH, claimed the command, but Lieut.-Colonel Robert (afterwards Lord) Clive, was eventually appointed to command the troops. The armament consisted of nine hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys: two hundred and fifty of the Europeans belonged to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, and the remainder were the best men of the Company’s troops. The naval squadron comprised the Kent of 64 guns, Cumberland of 70, Tiger of 60, Salisbury of 50, Bridgewater of 20, and a fire-ship; to which were added, as transports, three of the Company’s ships, and two smaller vessels. The fleet under Rear-Admirals Watson and Pocock having the troops on board, sailed from Madras on the 16th of October 1756, and anchored in the river Hoogly, off Fulta, twenty miles from Calcutta, on the 15th of December, with the exception of the Cumberland, in which Admiral Pocock had hoisted his flag, which grounded on the sandheads off Saugur, but afterwards bore up to Vizagapatam. The fleet left Fulta on the 27th of December, and anchored in the afternoon of the day following at Mayapore, a town ten miles below the fort of _Budge-Budge_.

It was determined to attack this fort on the following day, and it was resolved to lay an ambuscade in order to intercept the retreat of the garrison towards Calcutta. All the men of the THIRTY-NINTH who had arrived, being one hundred and twenty, remained on board the ships of war; but five hundred Europeans, with the Sepoys, and two field-pieces, landed, and marched from Mayapore, at sunset, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Clive. Monickchund, the Governor of Calcutta, attempted to make a stand near the fort of _Budge-Budge_, but was defeated, and forced to return to Calcutta.

Meanwhile the Kent, having outsailed the other ships, anchored before Budge-Budge, and alone silenced the cannon of that fort, which was abandoned by the garrison during the night of the 30th of December.

[Sidenote: 1757.]

The fleet left Budge-Budge on the 31st of December, and anchored, on the 1st of January 1757, between the forts of Tanna and Aligur, which were abandoned by the enemy without firing a shot. On the following morning Lieut.-Colonel Clive, with the greater portion of the Europeans and Sepoys, landed, and advanced towards _Calcutta_. At nine o’clock the Kent and Tiger anchored before the British fort, which, after a brisk cannonade, was deserted by the enemy, and also the town shortly afterwards, when a detachment from the ships under Captain Eyre Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH, (afterwards Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B.), hoisted the British colours in the fort, as the troops under Lieut.-Colonel Clive had not then arrived.

_Hoogly_, a town about twenty-three miles above Calcutta, was the next object of attack: one hundred and seventy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, with two hundred Sepoys, were embarked on this service on the 4th of January, sailed on the following day, and arrived before the place on the 10th of that month, the delay having been caused by one of the vessels having struck on a sandbank. The fort was garrisoned by two thousand men; three thousand more had been sent from Moorshedabad to guard the town, but these retreated upon the landing of the British troops, remaining, however, within a few miles distance. The fort was battered until night, and although the breach was scarcely practicable, it was resolved to storm it before dawn. At the main gate a false attack was made, while Captain Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH, with the other division, accompanied by some sailors, mounted the breach undiscovered by the garrison, who no sooner saw their assailants on the ramparts, than they quitted their posts and fled. Three Europeans and ten Sepoys were killed in the attack. The booty taken in the expedition against Hoogly was estimated at 15,000_l._ sterling.

On the 12th of January Captain Coote, with fifty of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, and twice that number of Sepoys, marched to _Bandell_, a large village three miles off, where they destroyed several granaries of rice, but on their return were surrounded by the fugitive garrison and the troops sent from Moorshedabad, from whom they disengaged themselves without loss. On the 19th of January the portion of the THIRTY-NINTH employed on this service, with the smaller vessels, returned to Calcutta.

While this expedition was in progress, the news of the war, which had been declared between Great Britain and France in May of the previous year, was received in India. The Nabob, Surajee Dowlah, exasperated by the attack of Hoogly, commenced his march towards Calcutta, and the British made every preparation to oppose his approach. On the 30th of January the Nabob’s forces commenced their passage of the river about ten miles above Hoogly, and arrived before Calcutta on the 3rd of February. In the afternoon of that day, a numerous body of the enemy commenced entrenching themselves in a large garden, within a mile and a half of the British camp. Upon this Lieut.-Colonel Clive immediately advanced with the greater portion of his troops, and six field-pieces. The attack of so numerous a force appeared extremely hazardous, and Lieut.-Colonel Clive restrained the action to a cannonade, which continued only for an hour, in order that the troops might be enabled to regain the camp before dark. Negotiations for peace had been proposed by Lieut.-Colonel Clive, and failed; it was therefore determined to attack the Nabob’s camp in the morning. At midnight five hundred and sixty-nine sailors, armed with firelocks, were landed from the ships of war: the Europeans amounted to six hundred and fifty, the artillerymen to one hundred, and the Sepoys to eight hundred. Shortly before dawn on the 5th of February, the British line came upon the advance-guards of the enemy, who fled after discharging their matchlocks and some rockets: one of the latter struck the cartouch-box of a Sepoy, set fire to the charges, which exploded, and communicated the mischief to several others: the dread of catching this fire threw the division into confusion, but fortunately none of the enemy were at hand to take advantage of this accidental circumstance, and Captain Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH, who marched at the head of the grenadiers, in the rear of the Sepoys, rallied them, and restored the line of march. A desperate contest ensued, during which Ensign Martin Yorke, of the THIRTY-NINTH, with a platoon of the regiment, rescued one of the field-pieces which was on the point of being captured by the enemy. The British sustained a loss in killed of twenty-seven Europeans, twelve seamen, and eighteen Sepoys: seventy Europeans, twelve seamen, and thirty-five Sepoys were wounded. The Nabob lost twenty-two officers of distinction, six hundred men, four elephants, five hundred horses, some camels, and several bullocks.

A treaty of peace was concluded between the Nabob and the East India Company on the 9th of February, and hostilities terminated.

It was, however, perceived that the Nabob was only temporising, and it was ascertained that he had sent a present of one hundred thousand rupees to the government of _Chandernagore_, then in possession of the French; and that Nuncomar, the governor of Hoogly, had received instructions to assist the French in case they should be attacked by the British.

Lieut.-Colonel Clive then resolved upon placing Meer Jaffier, one of the distinguished chieftains in Bengal, on the musnud, or government-seat, and of deposing the Nabob Surajee Dowlah, the former having engaged, in the event of his being elevated to the viceroyship, to aid in expelling the French from Bengal. Accordingly, _Chandernagore_, on the Hoogly, sixteen miles above Calcutta, was invested by Lieut.-Colonel Clive on the 14th of March, and, after a gallant defence, the place surrendered on the 24th of that month. A part of the garrison escaped, and joined the Nabob’s army.

Lieut.-Colonel Clive marched into Chandernagore with the King’s troops, on the following day. Admiral Watson, in his despatch of the 31st of March, 1757, stated that “all the officers and men behaved with great spirit and resolution on this occasion; as did also the _Land Forces_, who kept up a good and constant fire the whole time from two batteries and two guns which they had raised very near the fort.”

Meer Jaffier having signed the treaty with Admiral Watson, Lieut.-Colonel Clive, and the other counsellors, it was determined to commence operations. On the 12th of June, the troops which were at Calcutta, with one hundred and fifty seamen from the squadron, proceeded to join the army quartered at Chandernagore. The necessary preparations having been made, the army marched from Chandernagore on the following day, leaving a hundred seamen to garrison the fort, so that every soldier might serve in the field.

The British army arrived and halted on the 16th of June at Patlee, a town on the western shore of the Cossimbuzar river. Twelve miles above Patlee was situated the Fort of Cutwah, which commanded the passage of the river. Captain Coote was detached on the 17th against Cutwah, which was taken two days afterwards.

The main body of the army arrived at Cutwah in the evening, and encamped on the plain. The rainy season commenced on the following day with such violence that the troops were compelled to strike their tents, and shelter themselves in the houses of the town.

The co-operation of Meer Jaffier appearing doubtful at this period, made Lieut.-Colonel Clive hesitate as to crossing into the island of Cossimbuzar, and at all risks attack the Nabob Surajee Dowlah. A council of war consisting of sixteen officers was summoned; and contrary to the usual practice of taking the voice of the youngest officer first, and ascending from this to that of the president, Lieut.-Colonel Clive at once declared for remaining at Cutwah, and to continue there during the rainy season. Eight other officers were of the same opinion, and only seven voted for immediate action. Captain Eyre Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH, was one of the latter, and argued, “that the soldiers were at present confident of success, and that a stop so near the enemy would naturally quell this ardour, which it would be difficult to restore; that the arrival of the French troops with Mr. Law would add strength to the Nabob’s force and vigour to his councils; that they would surround the English army, and cut off its communication with Calcutta, when distresses, not yet foreseen, might ruin it as effectually as the loss of a battle. He therefore advised that they should either advance and at once decide the contest, or immediately return to Calcutta.”

Lieut.-Colonel Clive’s anxieties were not alleviated by the sanction of the majority. He retired into the adjoining grove, and remained for nearly an hour in deep meditation; the result was that he determined to act on the opinion of Captain Coote and the minority, by giving orders for the passage of the river of Cossimbuzar, a branch of the Ganges.

At sunrise on the 22nd of June, the British troops commenced to pass the river, and all were landed on the opposite shore by four in the afternoon. After a march of fifteen miles they arrived at one o’clock on the following morning at _Plassey_, and immediately occupied the adjoining grove. The guards being stationed, the remainder of the wearied soldiers were allowed a short interval of repose, which was broke at daybreak, when the Nabob’s hosts issued from their entrenched camp, amounting to about fifteen thousand cavalry, thirty-five thousand infantry, and upwards of forty pieces of cannon.[11] This was a fearful disparity of numbers when contrasted with the small army under Lieut.-Colonel Clive, which consisted of two thousand one hundred Sepoys, one hundred Topasses[12], one hundred Malabar Portuguese, six hundred and fifty European infantry, and one hundred and fifty artillerymen, including fifty seamen, together with eight six-pounders and one howitzer.

The Nabob commenced the attack by six o’clock, and his numerous artillery kept up a heavy cannonade for some hours, which was warmly responded to by the British. Lieut.-Colonel Clive sheltered his troops in the adjacent grove; and they were ordered to sit down, while the field-pieces alone answered the enemy’s cannon from behind the bank. At eleven o’clock Lieut.-Colonel Clive consulted his officers at the drumhead, when it was resolved to maintain the cannonade during the day, and at midnight to attack the enemy. At noon a heavy shower of rain covered the plain, and damaged the enemy’s powder to such on extent that his fire slackened, but the British ammunition remained serviceable.

A crisis had arrived, and Lieut.-Colonel Clive, no longer acting on the defensive, became the assailant. Seizing the opportunity, he advanced, and obtained possession of a tank, and two other posts of consequence, which the enemy vainly attempted to recover. A successful attack was then made upon the eminence and angle of the Nabob’s camp, defended by forty French soldiers (the men who had escaped from the garrison of Chandernagore), and their two pieces of cannon were captured. This was followed by a general rout, and the discomfited enemy was pursued for six miles: upwards of forty pieces of cannon, abandoned by the fugitives, fell into the hands of the victors.

In this astonishing victory, which laid the foundation of the British dominion in Bengal, five hundred of the enemy were killed, while the army under Lieut.-Colonel Clive sustained a loss of only twenty-two killed and fifty wounded.

It appears from a manuscript journal kept by Captain Eyre Coote, now in the library of the Honourable East India Company, that the following officers of the THIRTY-NINTH were present in the battle of _Plassey_: namely, Captains Archibald Grant, and Eyre Coote; Lieutenant John Corneille; and Ensigns Joseph Adnett, and Martin Yorke.

The motto “_Primus in Indis_,” and the word “_Plassey_,” borne by royal authority on the regimental colour and appointments of the THIRTY-NINTH, are proud memorials of its having been the first King’s regiment which served in India, and of the gallantry displayed in this battle.[13]

Lieut.-Colonel Clive, accompanied by a guard of two hundred Europeans, and three hundred Sepoys, entered the city of Moorshedabad on the 29th of June, and saluted Meer Jaffier as Nabob, who received the usual homage from the people as Soubah of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Surajee was subsequently taken prisoner, and fell a victim to the dagger of the son of Meer Jaffier.

Mr. Law, who was the French chief at Cossimbuzar, had collected nearly two hundred French European troops, and was proceeding to the assistance of the late Nabob;--when within a few hours’ march of him, he was taken prisoner, and Mr. Law, receiving that intelligence, advanced no further. Lieut.-Colonel Clive thereupon detached a party in pursuit under the command of Captain Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, consisting of two hundred Europeans and five hundred Sepoys, who were to be joined by two thousand of Meer Jaffier’s cavalry. After long and harassing marches, in which the troops suffered much fatigue, Captain Coote received orders to return, and arrived at Moorshedabad in September, when his detachment was subsequently stationed in the factory at Cossimbuzar. The rest of the troops, which had served at Plassey, proceeded to Chandernagore, that station being considered more healthy than Calcutta.

While the portion of the THIRTY-NINTH had been thus engaged in Bengal, the remainder of the regiment left at Madras had not been unemployed. An expedition having been determined upon against _Nelloure_, Major Francis Forde, of the THIRTY-NINTH, was selected to command the force selected for that service, which consisted of one hundred Europeans, fifty-six Caffres, and three hundred Sepoys. He effected a junction with the army of the Nabob of Arcot, or of the Carnatic, at Serapely on the 25th of April 1757. Two days afterwards the troops encamped before _Nelloure_. A practicable breach having been made, at sunrise on the 5th of May the assault was commenced; but in consequence of the Sepoys being seized with a panic, the attack was not successful. The troops subsequently returned towards Serapely, where Major Forde received express orders to return to Madras, in order to prevent the designs of the French on _Trichinopoly_.

In consequence of the danger to which _Trichinopoly_ was exposed, Colonel Adlercron marched from Madras on the 26th of May with three hundred Europeans, being the whole of the THIRTY-NINTH at that station, together with five hundred Sepoys, thirty of the King’s artillery, and four field-pieces. Intelligence having been received of the relief of Trichinopoly by Captain Caillaud, who had been selected to command the expedition against Madura[14], Colonel Adlercron was directed to invest the fortress of _Wandewash_, and accordingly marched towards that place on the 5th of June. On the following day he entered the town; but before the heavy cannon could arrive, the greater part of the French army from Trichinopoly reached Pondicherry, and marched to the relief of Wandewash, upon which Colonel Adlercron withdrew from the town, and encamped a few miles off. Several marches and countermarches were afterwards made, but no general engagement took place, and it being seen that nothing but the certainty of advantage would bring the enemy from his entrenched camp to action, the troops marched for Conjeveram on the 26th of July, at which place they arrived on the 28th of that month, where five hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys remained in cantonments under the command of Major Francis Forde, of the THIRTY-NINTH, and the rest of the troops returned to the garrisons and stations from whence they had been drawn.

Shortly afterwards orders were received from England recalling the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, when most of the men, and certain of the officers, entered the East India Company’s service.

[Sidenote: 1758.]

The regiment remained in India until the end of the year 1758, when it returned to Ireland, on the western coast of which it was wrecked.

[Sidenote: 1759.]

After remaining in Ireland some time, and being recruited to its establishment, the regiment was greatly reduced by a large detachment sent to Germany to join the British troops serving under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. No record has been preserved by the regiment of the services of this detachment, and the research made to supply the deficiency has not been attended with success.

[Sidenote: 1763.]

The Seven Years’ War, which had commenced in 1756, while the regiment was serving in India, was terminated by the peace concluded at Paris in February 1763.

[Sidenote: 1766.]

Colonel Robert Boyd was appointed from the First foot guards to the colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 6th of August 1766, in succession to Lieut.-General Adlercron, deceased.

[Sidenote: 1767.]

During the years 1766, 1767, and 1768, the regiment continued to be stationed in Ireland.

[Sidenote: 1769.]

In the year 1769 the THIRTY-NINTH again proceeded to Gibraltar; and while serving in that garrison, events transpired which enabled the regiment to acquire additional honor.

[Sidenote: 1779.]

The possession of this fortress by the English had been regarded by the Spaniards with great jealousy, but every effort for its recovery had signally failed. The contest between the colonists in North America and Great Britain, seemed to offer the Spanish monarch a favourable opportunity for regaining possession of Gibraltar. The French monarch, in the previous year, had concluded a treaty of defensive alliance with the American colonies, which involved Great Britain in a war with France. The Court of Versailles subsequently engaged that of Madrid to take a part in the contest, and on the 16th of June 1779 the Spanish ambassador presented a manifesto at St. James’s, equivalent to a declaration of war, and immediately departed from London; and shortly afterwards the siege of Gibraltar was commenced by the Spaniards, the anticipated reduction of that important fortress being one of the principal objects which induced Spain to become a party in the contest.

Gibraltar was accordingly beset, by sea and land, by the Spanish fleets and armies. The following return shows the strength of the garrison at the commencement of the blockade on the 21st of June 1779:--

British. Officers. Men.

Royal Artillery 25 460 Royal Engineers 8 114[15] 12th foot 29 570 39th ” 29 557 56th ” 27 560 58th ” 28 577 72nd ” (Royal Manchester Volunteers), disbanded in 1783 33 1013 ---- ---- 4030

Hanoverian.

Hardenberg’s regiment 29 423 Reden’s ” 27 417 De La Motte’s ” 33 423 ---- ---- 1352 Total ---- 5382

The THIRTY-NINTH regiment was commanded by Brevet Lieut.-Colonel William Kellett, major of the corps, and the garrison, mustering five thousand three hundred and eighty-two men, was under the orders of General the Right Hon. George Augustus Eliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield. Being thus blockaded by sea and besieged by land, the troops at Gibraltar became cut off from communication with other countries, and the garrison appeared a little world within itself.[16] The arrangements for the defence were devised with judgment, and executed with skill. The soldiers cheerfully conformed to the strict rules which their circumstances rendered necessary, and severe exercise and short diet became habitual to them; at the same time the great importance of the place, and the determined character of General Eliott and his garrison, occasioned this siege to be regarded with universal interest by the several nations of Europe.