Part 4
In 1785, while the regiment was stationed at Windsor, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Crosbie, and furnished the usual guard at the Castle, where his Majesty resided, an "ORDER OF MERIT" was instituted in the corps, with the view of promoting good order and discipline,--the field-officers, captains, and adjutant for the time being, to be members of the order. The order consisted of THREE CLASSES: the first wore a silver medal gilt, suspended to a blue riband two inches broad, and worn round the neck; the second a silver medal, and the third a bronze medal, similarly worn. The candidates for the third class must have served seven years with an unblemished character; for the second, fourteen; and for the first, twenty-one years. On the 1st of July, the KING was graciously pleased to accept from Lieut.-Colonel Crosbie a medal of the first class of the regimental ORDER OF MERIT: and on the 3rd of that month, the regiment being then encamped in Windsor Forest, assembled on parade, with the non-commissioned officers and soldiers selected to receive medals in front, the rules of the order were read; the corps presented arms, the band played "God save the King;" the members of the order took off their hats, and the commanding officer invested each member with his medal; the drums beating a point of war during the whole time.
[Sidenote: 1787]
In 1787 the regiment proceeded to Guernsey and Jersey, where its establishment was augmented; and it was ordered to be held in readiness for foreign service, in consequence of some revolutionary proceedings in Holland. In October the regiment proceeded to Portsmouth, and its establishment was soon afterwards reduced. Previous to leaving Guernsey, it received the thanks of the Lieut.-Governor for its excellent conduct.
[Sidenote: 1788]
On quitting Portsmouth in 1788 for Chatham, the regiment received a very flattering mark of the high estimation in which its conduct was held by the inhabitants.
[Sidenote: 1790]
The regiment left Chatham and Dover in the spring of 1790, and proceeding to Ireland landed at Cork on the 5th of April.
[Sidenote: 1791]
Major-General Charles O'Hara was removed to the Seventy-fourth Highlanders in April, 1791, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND by Major-General David Dundas, Adjutant-General of the Army in Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1792]
In 1792, a slight alteration was made in the uniform, and the establishment was augmented.
[Sidenote: 1793]
Meanwhile a revolution had taken place in France, and the violent conduct of the republican government in that country occasioned a war between Great Britain and France, which commenced in 1793. In September of that year the flank companies of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment embarked for the West Indies, for the purpose of taking part in the capture of the French West India islands. They were followed by the battalion companies in December.
[Sidenote: 1794]
The flank companies joined the armament under General Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey, who effected a landing at three different points on the island of _Martinique_, in February, 1794, and accomplished in a short period the conquest of that valuable colony.
The grenadier brigade under His Royal Highness Prince Edward, afterwards the Duke of Kent, and the light infantry under Major-General Dundas, were engaged in the conquest of _St. Lucia_ in the beginning of April.
After the conquest of St. Lucia, an attack was made on _Guadaloupe_, and that valuable island was speedily rescued from the power of the republican government of France.
The regiment proceeded to the island of Martinique, where it was joined by the flank companies.
Two hundred men, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Lysaght, proceeded to the island of _St. Domingo_, and formed part of the garrison of Cape St. Nicholas Mole: and five companies joined the garrison of _Busy-town_, which place was besieged by the enemy.
In April, the TWENTY-SECOND, Twenty-third, and Forty-first regiments, with some other troops, embarked under the command of Brigadier-General John Whyte, for the attack of _Port-au-Prince_, the capital of the French possessions in the island of _St. Domingo_. A landing was effected on the 31st of May; some severe fighting occurred, in which the TWENTY-SECOND distinguished themselves: _Fort Bizzotton_ was captured, and the enemy was forced to abandon _Port-au-Prince_, which was taken possession of by the British troops. The regiment had Captain Wallace killed on this occasion, also several private soldiers killed and wounded. Unfortunately a malignant fever broke out in the town, and the British lost forty officers and six hundred soldiers by disease within two months after the capture of the place.
A detachment of the regiment formed part of the garrison of _Fort Bizzotton_, which was attacked by two thousand of the enemy on the 5th of December. The British defended their post with great gallantry, and repulsed the assailants. Lieutenant Hamilton of the TWENTY-SECOND distinguished himself.
Another portion of the regiment was stationed at Jeremie, and a detachment at Irois.
[Sidenote: 1795]
Having sustained severe loss from the climate of St. Domingo, the regiment was relieved from duty at that island, and returned to England in 1795.
Lieut.-General Dundas was removed to the Seventh Light Dragoons, and the colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND was conferred on Major-General William Crosbie, from the Eighty-ninth regiment.
[Sidenote: 1798]
The regiment was stationed in England recruiting its ranks until December, 1798, when it proceeded to Guernsey.
Major-General Crosbie died this year, and was succeeded by Major-General John Graves Simcoe, from the Eighty-first regiment.
[Sidenote: 1799]
In November, 1799, the regiment was withdrawn from Guernsey, and landed at Portsmouth on the 15th of that month.
On its return from the West Indies, the regiment enlisted a number of boys, or youths; and in 1798 it received drafts of boys, or lads, from other corps; it was designated a boy regiment, and sent to the Cape of Good Hope, where the youths, it was conjectured, would be gradually accustomed to a warm climate, and become better adapted for service in the East Indies, than recruits sent direct from Europe to India.
[Sidenote: 1800]
In January and February, 1800, the regiment embarked for the Cape of Good Hope, where it arrived in May and June following. The companies on board of one transport, the Surat Castle, suffered severely in consequence of their crowded state: the crew was composed of Lascars, among whom much disease prevailed; the infection was communicated to the soldiers, and the men of the TWENTY-SECOND suffered in their health; sixty soldiers were sent on shore, to a general hospital, before the ship left England. The survivors arrived at the Cape in a sickly state; they had been obliged to aid in working the vessel during the voyage, and the masts and rigging had been damaged during a gale of wind.
[Sidenote: 1801]
The head-quarters were established at Muisenberg, and afterwards encamped at Wynberg, a tongue of land projecting from the east side of Table Mountain. The sick men received every attention which could be procured by Major-General Francis Dundas, commanding at the Cape, and as they recovered they joined the head-quarters, which were removed to Simon's-town in January, 1801, and again encamped at Wynberg in March. In May the regiment marched into Cape Town, and in September joined the camp at Rondebosch.
The lads having become much improved in size and strength, the light infantry company joined the flank battalion; and the grenadiers were detached to the interior, and stationed at Graaff Reinett.
[Sidenote: 1802]
Leaving the camp in January, 1802, the regiment was removed to Muisenberg, Simon's-town, and Graaff Reinett.
The period having arrived for the regiment to proceed to India, it was joined by a number of volunteers from corps serving at the Cape of Good Hope, and embarked from thence in September, October, and November, when it mustered thirty-one officers, and one thousand and fifty-five non-commissioned officers and soldiers fit for duty.
[Sidenote: 1803]
In February, 1803, the last division of the regiment landed at Fort William, Calcutta, where the other companies had previously arrived.
At this period two powerful chieftains, Dowlat Rao Scindia and Jeswunt Rao Holkar, had usurped the powers of the Peishwa, and were desolating the Mahratta states with war; and these two chiefs, with the Rajah of Berar, formed a confederacy against the British and their allies. Under these circumstances the flank companies of the regiment embarked from Fort William, and joined the field force, under Lieut.-Colonel Harcourt, assembled for the attack of the province of Cuttack. On entering that province, the troops had to overcome numerous difficulties from the nature of the country, the season of the year, and the resistance of the enemy, which they surmounted with great gallantry.
On the 4th of October, the flank companies of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment highly distinguished themselves at the capture of the fort of _Barrabatta_ by storm, when they led the assault, and took several of the enemy's colours. They had one man killed; Captain Harlston and eight soldiers wounded. The colours captured by the TWENTY-SECOND, with some others taken by the Ninth and Nineteenth Native Infantry, were publicly displayed at Calcutta, and afterwards lodged at Fort William, with an inscription of the names of the corps by which taken.
[Sidenote: 1804]
The flank companies of the regiment remained in the field, and the splendid successes of the British arms appeared likely to bring about a speedy termination of the war; but hostilities were protracted by the defection of the Rajah of Bhurtpore. The flank companies of the TWENTY-SECOND joined the army under Lord Lake: they had two men killed and three wounded at the capture of _Deeg_, in December, and were engaged in the attempt to bring the refractory Rajah Sing to submission by the siege of the strong fortress of Bhurtpore.
[Sidenote: 1805]
In the meantime, the regiment had commenced its march from Fort William, for the Upper provinces, and in January, 1805, it halted and encamped at Benares; but resumed its march in February, and proceeded to Cawnpore.
The siege of _Bhurtpore_ was carried on, and the flank companies were engaged in the unsuccessful attempt to capture that place by storm on the 9th of January, when they had eleven men killed and twenty-four wounded. They were also engaged in the desperate attempt to capture the place by storm, on the 21st of January, when they had Captain Menzies and four men killed; Captains Lindsay and McNight, Lieutenants Mansergh, Sweetman, and Caswell, and thirty-one non-commissioned officers and soldiers, wounded. At the third unsuccessful attack, on the 21st of February, they had two serjeants and three soldiers killed; three serjeants and four soldiers wounded.
Serjeant John Ship, of the regiment, led the forlorn hope on each occasion, and his gallant conduct was rewarded with the commission of ensign in the Sixty-fifth regiment.
Rajah Sing submitted, and concluded a treaty of peace with the British: the army withdrew from Bhurtpore, and the surviving officers and soldiers of the flank companies joined the regiment at Cawnpore, in June.
Holkar continued his resistance to the British authority, and Scindia evinced a disposition to renew hostilities. These events occasioned the regiment to quit Cawnpore, in October, to pursue the army of Holkar, who was driven from place to place, until the British troops arrived at the banks of the Hyphasis, or Sutlej, where he submitted, and a treaty of peace was concluded in December. Scindia also concluded a second treaty, and the British power and influence in India were thus augmented and consolidated.
[Sidenote: 1806]
From the banks of the Sutlej, the regiment marched to Delhi, where it arrived in February, 1806, and in March it was removed to Muttra, where it received the thanks of General Lord Lake, and of the Governor-General in Council, for its conduct during the war.
On the 30th of October, General Simcoe, who died in 1806, was succeeded in the colonelcy of the regiment by Lieut.-General Sir James Henry Craig, from the Eighty-sixth foot.
[Sidenote: 1807]
Leaving Muttra in July, 1807, the regiment proceeded to Berhampore, where it arrived on the 7th of August.
[Sidenote: 1809]
Major-General the Honorable Edward Finch was appointed colonel of the regiment on the 18th of September, 1809, from the Fifty-fourth foot, in succession to Sir James Henry Craig, K.B., removed to the Seventy-eighth Highlanders.
[Sidenote: 1810]
The regiment remained at Berhampore until August, 1810, when it embarked in boats, and proceeded to Fort William, in order to form part of the expedition against the _Mauritius_, under Major-General the Honorable J. Abercromby. A landing was effected in the bay of Mapou, on the 29th of November, without opposition, and on the following day the troops advanced towards the capital; being exposed to severe heat, and unable to procure water, the soldiers became exhausted, and arriving at the powder-mills, five miles from Port Louis, they halted near the stream. Resuming the march on the 1st of December, the troops were opposed by the enemy in force, and some sharp fighting occurred, in which the TWENTY-SECOND took part and had several men wounded. The French were driven from their ground, and they fell back upon Port Louis; the British took post in front of the position occupied by the French. Being unable to withstand the valour and discipline of the invading army, the governor, General de Caen, surrendered the island to the British arms.
[Sidenote: 1811]
After the capture of the Mauritius, the regiment was stationed a short time at that island, and in January it sent a detachment of five officers and seventy men to Tamatave, in the Island of Madagascar. In March and April the regiment was removed to the island of Bourbon, where it was joined by the survivors of the detachment from Madagascar, reduced in number, by disease, to two officers and twenty-five men: they had been made prisoners by the enemy, and re-captured by the British ships of war.
[Sidenote: 1812]
[Sidenote: 1813]
In July, 1812, the regiment returned to the Mauritius; but again proceeded to Bourbon, in August, and was removed to the Mauritius a second time in May, 1813.
[Sidenote: 1814]
[Sidenote: 1815]
A number of men having volunteered from the militia to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent was pleased to approve of a _second battalion_ being formed, and it was placed on the establishment of the army on the 10th of February, 1814. The war in Europe being terminated soon afterwards, by the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne of France, the second battalion was disbanded at Chester, on the 24th of October, transferring the men fit for duty to the first battalion, which they joined at the Mauritius, in April, 1815, in so good a state, as to be specially noticed in general orders, and Captain Thomas Poole, commanding the party, received the thanks of the governor.
On the 1st of June, 1815, the rifle company of the first battalion of the Twelfth regiment, together with the first battalion of the Eighty-seventh regiment, and the flank companies of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment, were formed into a field brigade, and on the 16th of June embarked from the Mauritius to join the army in Bengal. The troops arrived at Bengal on the 2nd and 3rd of August; re-embarked on the 23rd of September, and landed at the Mauritius on the 14th of November, 1815. The light company of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment, while on passage to Bengal, was wrecked in the Straits between Ceylon and the opposite continent. The conduct of the flank companies, while in India, was highly commended in general orders issued before they embarked from Fort William,--on their return to the Mauritius.
While the flank companies were thus employed, the remainder of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment was placed under canvas at Pamplemousse, seven miles from Port Louis, as it was suffering severely from a prevailing disease at the Mauritius. There being but a small force left on the island, and this reduced in numbers and efficiency by disease, a meditated insurrection had nearly attained an outbreak, but for timely information.
[Sidenote: 1819]
The regiment occupied various stations at the Mauritius, under the command of Colonel Dalrymple, until July, 1819, when it embarked for England. Previous to quitting the island it was inspected by Major-General Ralph Darling, who expressed, in general orders, his admiration of its appearance, and of its excellent conduct while serving under his command.
Though the TWENTY-SECOND had participated in the capture of the Mauritius, the French inhabitants of the island presented a large and handsome gold snuff-box to the regiment on its embarkation for England, bearing this inscription, "_Aux Officiers du 22 Régiment de S. M.--Souvenir des Habitans de l'île Maurice_; 1819;" thus testifying their good feeling, and appreciation of the orderly and soldierlike conduct of the corps during its service of nine years in the colony.
After landing at Gosport, in November and December, the regiment marched to Northampton, under the orders of Colonel Sir Hugh Gough, K.C.B.
[Sidenote: 1821]
In the Autumn of 1821 the regiment marched to Liverpool, where it embarked on the 9th of October, for Ireland. Having landed at Dublin on the 10th of October, the regiment marched to Buttevant, with detachments at Mallow, Bantyre, Charleville, Newmarket, and Ballyclough.
Some changes of quarters afterwards took place in consequence of the riotous and violent proceedings of the misguided peasantry at this part of the country, and the disposition evinced to violate the law.
[Sidenote: 1822]
On the evening of the 25th of January, 1822, three thousand men assembled with such arms as they could procure, for an attack on Newmarket; and they were repulsed, with severe loss, by thirty men of the regiment, under Captain Thomas Keappock and Lieutenant Samuel Green, who received the expression of the approbation of His Royal Highness the Duke of York, the Commander-in-Chief, and were presented with a silver cup, by the noblemen, gentlemen, and inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Newmarket,--"In testimony of the high sense entertained of their gallant conduct in attacking and defeating an armed body of three thousand insurgents, with thirty men."
A reinforcement was sent to Newmarket, and the regiment performed many marches, and much extra duty, in consequence of the disturbed state of the country.
[Sidenote: 1823]
[Sidenote: 1824]
The head-quarters of the regiment were stationed at Buttevant during the year 1823, and the first nine months of 1824; and the state of the regiment was repeatedly commended in orders by the General Officers who made the half-yearly inspections.
[Sidenote: 1826]
In October, 1824, the regiment marched to Dublin; it was subsequently stationed in Galway, and in the summer of 1826 it was divided into six service and four depôt companies, in order that the former might proceed on foreign service.
The service companies embarked from Cork in November and December, in three divisions, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel P. C. Taylor, Major James Steuart, and Captain Thomas Poole, and the last division arrived at the island of Jamaica in February, 1827.
[Sidenote: 1827]
The service companies suffered severely from the effects of the climate of Jamaica; in September and October, 1827, they lost three officers, seventeen serjeants, and one hundred and twenty men, from fever; the total loss during the first year was Lieut.-Colonel P. C. Taylor, Major James Steuart, Captain William Norton, Lieutenant Edward Gordon, Ensign E. T. Evans, Paymaster R. Barlow, Adjutant William Potenger, and one hundred and seventy-two non-commissioned officers and soldiers.
[Sidenote: 1828]
[Sidenote: 1829]
In the following year the losses were much less numerous; and in April, 1829, Lieut.-Colonel C. G. Falconar arrived and assumed the command. In June of the same year, the regiment received the thanks of the civil authorities for the prompt assistance rendered in extinguishing an alarming fire in the vicinity of Spanish Town.
[Sidenote: 1830]
On the 7th of June, 1830, the depôt companies embarked from Cork for South Britain, where they were stationed until the summer of 1836, when they embarked from Liverpool for Ireland, and landed at Dublin.
[Sidenote: 1831]
The regiment was employed in suppressing a formidable insurrection among the slaves in Jamaica in the winter of 1831-2; the two flank companies were encamped on the scene of the insurrection in the following winter, and when the regiment left Falmouth, in Jamaica, in the latter part of the year 1833, the thanks of the custos and magistrates were awarded to the corps for its good conduct.[8]
[Sidenote: 1837]
The service companies performed duty at the island of Jamaica until the beginning of 1837, when they commenced embarking for Europe, and landed at Cork in March and April; they were afterwards joined by the depôt companies.
[Sidenote: 1838]
[Sidenote: 1839]
[Sidenote: 1840]
The regiment remained in Ireland during the years 1838 and 1839; and embarking from Dublin on the 19th of December, 1840, landed at Liverpool on the 21st of that month.
[Sidenote: 1841]
The TWENTY-SECOND regiment, having been selected to proceed to India, embarked from Gravesend in January, 1841, and landed at Bombay in May following. It afterwards proceeded to Poonah, where an encampment was formed, and the regiment was stationed there during the remainder of the year.
[Sidenote: 1842]
In the following year the regiment quitted the camp at Poonah by divisions, and proceeding to the country of Scinde, was encamped some time near Kurrachee. The regiment was encamped in two separate divisions at Kurrachee, as cholera had broken out violently in its ranks, from which it suffered severely, and during its prevalence a field-officer's detachment, under Major Poole, consisting of two companies, was ordered to proceed by the Indus, in the month of April, 1842, to Sukkur, in Upper Scinde, previously to the withdrawal of the British force from Beloochistan.
The navigation of the Indus had been acquired by the British in 1839, and application was made to the Ameers, who governed the country, for a portion of land on the banks of the river. This they agreed to give; but at the same time meditated the destruction of the British power in the country by treachery. The TWENTY-SECOND quitted the camp at Kurrachee in November, and proceeded up the country.
[Sidenote: 1843]
The regiment formed part of the force assembled under Major-General Sir Charles Napier, and was employed in the destruction of the fort of _Emaum Ghur_, in the desert, on the 14th and 15th of January, 1843.
Major-General W. F. P. Napier, in his work entitled "_The Conquest of Scinde_," has given, with his characteristic eloquence, the following spirited description of the march to _Emaum Ghur_, a march which His Grace the Duke of Wellington described in the House of Lords, "_as one of the most curious military feats he had ever known to be performed, or had ever perused an account of in his life. Sir Charles Napier_ (added His Grace) _moved his troops through the desert against hostile forces; he had his guns transported under circumstances of extreme difficulty, and in a manner the most extraordinary; and he cut off a retreat of the enemy which rendered it impossible for them ever to regain their positions_."