Part 7

EDWARD WHITMORE entered the army in the reign of King George II., and serving with distinction in the wars of the Austrian succession, was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the Thirty-sixth regiment on the 17th of July, 1747. He performed the duty of commanding officer of the Thirty-sixth regiment with reputation ten years; and in July, 1757, King George II. rewarded him with the colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment. He was nominated brigadier-general in America in December, 1757; in 1758 he commanded a brigade under Lieut.-General (afterwards Lord) Amherst, in the descent on Cape Breton, and at the siege and capture of Louisburg, of which fortress he was afterwards nominated governor. On the 19th of February, 1761, he was promoted to the rank of major-general. During the following winter he left Louisburg for Boston; during the voyage the ship was driven, by severe weather, into the harbour of Plymouth, and Major-General Whitmore, being on deck, in the night, fell overboard and was drowned.

THE HONORABLE THOMAS GAGE.

_Appointed 29th March, 1762._

THE HONORABLE THOMAS GAGE, second son of Thomas, first Viscount Gage, of Castle Island, in Ireland, having served some time in the subordinate commissions, was appointed major of the Forty-fourth foot in February, 1747; and he was further promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the regiment on the 2nd of March, 1751. He was serving with his regiment in America, when a dispute occurred between Great Britain and France respecting the territory on the banks of the Ohio, and he commanded the advance-guard of the forces sent against Fort Du Quesne, which the French had built to command the entrance into the country on the Ohio and Mississippi. In the disastrous action on the 9th of July, 1755, Major-General Braddock was killed, and Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Thomas Gage was wounded. He continued to serve in America, where he raised a provincial regiment, which was numbered the eightieth, light-armed foot, of which he was appointed colonel in May, 1758; he was also appointed brigadier-general in North America, and the efforts of the army effected the conquest of Canada, which has continued to form part of the British dominions from that period. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1761, and in the same year he performed the duty of Commander-in-Chief in North America, and also succeeded Sir Jeffrey Amherst as Colonel-in-Chief of the sixtieth regiment, which he held two months, when Lieut.-General Amherst was re-appointed. In March, 1762, he was appointed colonel of the TWENTY-SECOND foot; and in April, 1770, he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general. When the misunderstanding between Great Britain and her North American colonies began to assume a serious aspect, he was appointed Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay, and he arrived at Boston in May, 1774. Hostilities commenced in the following year, and his active exertions to suppress the rebellion were rewarded in August, 1775, with the appointment of Commander-in-Chief in North America, which he resigned in a few months afterwards. In April, 1782, he was appointed colonel of the seventeenth light dragoons; he was promoted to the rank of general in November following, and in 1785 he was removed to the eleventh dragoons. He died in 1787.

CHARLES O'HARA.

_Appointed 18th April, 1782._

CHARLES O'HARA was appointed cornet in the third dragoons in December, 1752, and in 1756 he was promoted to lieutenant and captain in the second foot guards. He served in Portugal in 1762, and performed the duties of quartermaster-general to the army under Lieut.-General the Earl of Loudoun. In 1769 he was promoted to the rank of captain and lieut.-colonel; and he served with his regiment in North America. In the autumn of 1781 he was promoted to the rank of major-general. He commanded the brigade of foot guards under Lieut.-General Earl Cornwallis, in Virginia; distinguished himself at the passage of the Catawba river on the 1st of February, 1781; and was wounded at the battle of Guildford on the 15th of March. In 1782 he was nominated to the colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment; was removed to the Seventy-fourth highlanders in 1791, and was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1793. He commanded the British troops at Toulon, and was wounded and taken prisoner in an action with the French republican troops on the 30th of November, 1793. His services were rewarded with the appointment of governor of Gibraltar, and in 1798 he was promoted to the rank of general. It is recorded that he possessed a happy combination of talents; was a brave and enterprising soldier, a strict disciplinarian, and a polite and accomplished gentleman. He died at Gibraltar on the 21st of February, 1802.

DAVID DUNDAS.

_Appointed 2nd April, 1791._

DAVID DUNDAS was one of the most distinguished officers of the age in which he lived, for his perfect knowledge of the principles of military tactics. He commenced his military education at the age of thirteen in the academy at Woolwich, and at fifteen he assisted in a survey of Scotland; in 1756 he obtained a commission in the Fifty-sixth regiment. In 1758 he proceeded with the expedition to the coast of France as an assistant quartermaster-general; and in the following year obtained the command of a troop in a newly raised regiment of light dragoons (Eliott's light horse), now the fifteenth, or King's hussars. He served with his regiment in Germany in 1760 and 1761; in the following summer he accompanied an expedition to Cuba, as aide-de-camp to Major-General Eliott, and was actively employed in the reduction of the Havannah. After the peace he resumed his post in his regiment, in which he rose to the rank of major; and, urged by an ardent desire to acquire a perfect knowledge of every branch of his profession, he obtained permission to proceed to the Continent, to observe the practice of the French and Austrian armies. In 1775 he obtained the lieut.-colonelcy of the twelfth light dragoons, joined the regiment in Ireland shortly afterwards, and in 1778 received the appointment of quartermaster-general in that country. In 1782 he was removed to the lieut.-colonelcy of the second Irish horse, now the fifth dragoon guards. In 1785 he again proceeded to the Continent, attended the exercises of the Prussian troops during three summers, and after his return he presented His Majesty with a detailed account of their evolutions.

Colonel Dundas, having become a proficient tactician, produced, in 1788, a highly useful work on the principles of military movements, which became the basis of our army regulations for field exercises and movements. His abilities obtained for him the favour and attention of King George III., who appointed him adjutant-general in Ireland, for the purpose of introducing his system of tactics into the army of that country. In 1790 Colonel Dundas was promoted to the rank of major-general. In 1791 he obtained the colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND foot, and in the same year was placed on the Irish staff, but he resigned that appointment in 1793 to engage in service of actual warfare. After the commencement of hostilities with the French republic, Major-General Dundas was employed on a military mission to the island of Jersey, and was subsequently sent to the Continent to confer with the Duke of York respecting the siege of Dunkirk. From Flanders he proceeded to Toulon, where he commanded under Lieut.-General O'Hara, and when the lieut.-general was taken prisoner, he succeeded to the command of the garrison. His services there, although he was ultimately obliged to evacuate the place, called forth the approbation of his Sovereign and of the British nation. After abandoning Toulon, he made a descent on Corsica, which island was reduced and annexed to the British dominions; but shortly afterwards he received directions to proceed to Flanders, where he arrived in the spring of 1794, and commanded a brigade of cavalry at the battle of Tournay on the 22nd of May, 1794. Major-General Dundas was actively employed in the retreat through Holland, and the corps under his immediate command gained considerable advantage over the enemy in two successive actions near Gelder-Malsen; he highly distinguished himself also in an attack upon the French post at Thuyl, in December of the same year. He continued with the British troops in Germany during the summer of 1795, and in December was appointed colonel of the seventh light dragoons. After his return to England he was appointed quartermaster-general to the army; and he composed the celebrated regulations for the field exercises and movements for the cavalry, which were approved by his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and by King George III., and ordered to be exclusively adopted throughout the cavalry.

In 1799 Lieut.-General Dundas commanded a division of the allied army under the Duke of York, in the expedition to Holland; he distinguished himself in several actions with the enemy, and was highly commended by His Royal Highness in his public despatches. In 1801 he was appointed colonel of the second, or Royal North British dragoons, and was constituted governor of Fort George. In 1802 he was promoted to the rank of general; and in the following year, when the French were preparing to invade England, he was placed in command of the troops in the southern district, which comprised the counties of Kent and Sussex. In 1804 he was appointed governor of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, and created a Knight of the Bath. On the 18th of March, 1809, His Majesty was pleased to confer on this distinguished veteran the appointment of Commander-in-Chief of the army, on the resignation of Field-Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of York, which appointment he held until the 25th of May, 1811, when His Royal Highness was re-appointed. He was also appointed colonel-in-chief of the rifle brigade on the 31st of August, 1809. He was promoted to the colonelcy of the King's dragoon guards on the 27th of January, 1813. He died in 1820, after a distinguished service of upwards of sixty years.

WILLIAM CROSBIE.

_Appointed 23rd December, 1795._

After serving in the subordinate commissions, WILLIAM CROSBIE was nominated captain of a company in the Twenty-eighth regiment, on the 9th of May, 1769; and in October, 1778, he was promoted to the majority of the seventh Royal Fusiliers, with which corps he served in the Carolinas; in April, 1781, he obtained the lieut.-colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment. While stationed at Windsor in 1785, he obtained the permission of King George III. for the introduction of an order of merit in the corps, which under his command obtained a high reputation for correct discipline. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1790; and in 1793 received a letter of service for raising the Eighty-ninth regiment, of which he was appointed colonel. In 1794 he was advanced to the rank of major-general, and was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment in 1795. He died on the 16th of June, 1798, at Portsmouth, of which fortress he was lieut.-governor at the time of his decease.

JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE.

_Appointed 18th June, 1798._

JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE, son of Captain Simcoe of the Royal Navy, evinced great talent from his youth. It is recorded that, when a boy, he was taken prisoner at sea, and conveyed up the river St. Lawrence, to Quebec; and he constructed a chart of the river, which was given to Major-General Wolfe, who sailed with an expedition against Quebec, in 1759. On the 27th of April, 1770, he was appointed ensign in the Thirty-fifth regiment, with which corps he served at Boston, in 1775; he was appointed captain in the fortieth regiment in December, 1775, and served at Long Island and New York in 1776, and in the expedition to Pennsylvania in 1777, when he distinguished himself at the battle of Brandywine, and was wounded. In October of the same year, he was placed at the head of a provincial corps, called "The Queen's Rangers," with the rank of major-commandant, and was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel in 1778. His services with this corps are spoken of by Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, in a letter to Lord George Germaine, in the following terms:--"Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe has been at the head of a battalion since October, 1777, and since that time he has been perpetually with the advance of the army. The history of the corps under his command is a series of gallant, skilful, and successful enterprises against the enemy, without a single reverse. The Queen's Rangers have killed, or taken, twice their own numbers. Colonel Simcoe himself has been thrice wounded; and I do not scruple to assert, that his successes have been no less the fruit of the most extensive knowledge of his profession which study and the experience within his reach could give him, than of the most watchful attention and shining courage." After repeatedly distinguishing himself in North and South Carolina, and Virginia, he was included in the capitulation of York Town, and returned to England in a state of debility from excessive exertion, &c. In 1790 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and in the following year raised a corps of infantry called the Queen's Rangers, of which he was appointed colonel on the 1st of September, 1791. He subsequently proceeded to the West Indies, where he evinced the same talent, energy, and courage which shone so conspicuously in the American war. In 1794 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in 1796 to the local rank of lieut.-general in the island of St. Domingo. In January, 1798, he was appointed Colonel of the Eighty-first regiment, and was removed, in June following, to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment, the colonelcy of which corps he retained until his decease in 1806.

SIR JAMES H. CRAIG, K.B.

_Appointed 30th October, 1806._

JAMES HENRY CRAIG was appointed ensign in the thirtieth foot, in 1763, and served with his regiment at Gibraltar; in 1771 he was promoted to captain in the Forty-seventh regiment, with which corps he served several campaigns in America; and in 1777 he was promoted to the majority, and in 1781 to the lieut.-colonelcy, of the Eighty-second regiment, from which he was removed, in 1783, to the sixteenth. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1790, and to that of major-general in 1794; in 1795 he was nominated to the colonelcy of the Forty-sixth regiment: he was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1801, and removed to the Eighty-sixth in 1804. He commanded an expedition to the Mediterranean, in 1805, with the local rank of general, and the dignity of a knight of the Bath; the troops under his orders landed at Naples, and subsequently took possession of the island of Sicily. In 1806 he was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment; and in 1807 he was appointed governor of Upper and Lower Canada, with the local rank of general in America; in 1809 he was removed to the Seventy-eighth Highlanders. He was also appointed governor of Blackness Castle. He died on the 12th of January, 1812.

THE HONORABLE EDWARD FINCH.

_Appointed 18th September, 1809._

In 1778 the HONORABLE EDWARD FINCH was appointed cornet in the eleventh light dragoons, and in 1779 he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the Eighty-seventh foot. He embarked for the West Indies, in January, 1780, and served there, and in North America, until 1782, when he returned to England, and was appointed lieutenant and captain in the second foot guards; in 1792 he was promoted to captain and lieut.-colonel in the same corps. He served the campaigns of 1793 and 1794, in Flanders, under His Royal Highness the Duke of York, and shared in the several actions in which the foot guards distinguished themselves. In 1796 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and in 1799 he commanded the first battalion of his regiment in the expedition to Holland, where he served in several actions under Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and His Royal Highness the Duke of York. He commanded the brigade of light cavalry in the expedition to Egypt, in 1800, with the rank of brigadier-general, and was promoted to the rank of major-general, in January, 1801. After commanding the light cavalry in Egypt some time, he was placed at the head of a brigade of infantry, and was honored with the Order of the Crescent from the Grand Seignior. He commanded a brigade of foot guards in the expedition to Hanover in 1805; and in 1807 he commanded a brigade at the capture of Copenhagen. In 1808 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and appointed colonel of the Fifty-fourth regiment, and in 1809 he was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND. He was promoted to the rank of general in 1819. His decease occurred on the 27th of October, 1843.

SIR CHARLES JAMES NAPIER, G.C.B.

_Appointed 21st November, 1843._

The following Regimental Order was issued by Major-General Sir Charles Napier, upon his appointment by Her Majesty to the Colonelcy of the TWENTY-SECOND Regiment.

"TWENTY-SECOND!

Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to place me at your head, and I shall end my military career wearing the uniform of the Regiment. Your Glory must be my Glory, and well I know it will increase, when you have again an opportunity to use your Arms! Never were the Musket and Bayonet wielded by stronger men, nor were the Royal Colours of England ever confided to more intrepid Soldiers!

"Many General Officers have been made Colonels of Regiments that they had formerly commanded, and with whose glory their own fame is associated; but old Comrades have passed away,--to the new men, they are strangers,--and nought remains to bind them to their Regiments, but Memory and Renown! My good fortune has been greater, for while I rejoice in the past and present honors of my old Corps, the Fiftieth Regiment, I am, as Colonel of the TWENTY-SECOND, placed among men at whose head I have so lately fought, and to whose valour I owe so much!!

"Soldiers, we are not men without feeling as _pseudo_ Philosophers pretend! Obedience, Discipline, War, they deprive us not of Manly sentiments. I shall always have the strongest attachment to the corps with whom I have served, and among the honors won for me by the Army of Scinde, the greatest is that of being your Colonel!!

(Signed) "C. J. NAPIER, _Major-General_, "_Colonel 22nd Regiment_.

"_Kurrachee, 23rd January, 1844._"

The following Postscript to the Official letter to Major-General Sir Charles Napier, announcing his appointment as Colonel of the TWENTY-SECOND Regiment, was in the _Duke of Wellington's own hand-writing_:--

"P.S. I recommended this arrangement to Her Majesty, principally on the ground that it would be satisfactory to you, as this was the only one of Her Majesty's Regiments in India engaged in the two glorious battles fought at _Meeanee_ and _Hyderabad_, in _Scinde_; and Her Majesty was graciously pleased to approve of the recommendation on that ground."

LONDON: Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS, Stamford Street, For Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

FOOTNOTE:

[12] David Hume, the historian, was secretary to General St. Clair, during the expedition to the coast of France, and the embassy to Vienna and Turin.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg xxix: 'thence to Portmouth' replaced by 'thence to Portsmouth'. Pg 34: 'a deperate dash' replaced by 'a desperate dash'. Pg 41: 'stanch and true' replaced by 'staunch and true'. Pg 45: 'until its recal' replaced by 'until its recall'. Pg 52: 'Anne to that' replaced by 'Anne to the'. Pg 59: '27th of Januuary' replaced by '27th of January'.