The ship “Belleisle,” having the first battalion on board, sailed for Portsmouth on the 1st of January 1847, and arrived at Spithead on the 25th of that month. After disembarking at Portsmouth, the battalion proceeded to Winchester, where it was stationed until the 19th of July, when it was conveyed in three divisions by railway to Glasgow, and on the 21st of December it was removed to Edinburgh.
In September 1847, the head-quarters of the reserve battalion were removed from La Prairie to Chambly, and in October proceeded to St. John’s, in Canada East.
Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the ninth foot to that of the Seventy-first regiment on the 18th of February 1848, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart. and K.C.B., deceased.
Three companies of the first battalion proceeded from Edinburgh to Dublin on the 27th of April 1848; and the head-quarters, with the three remaining companies, were removed to Dublin on the 1st of May. In June, the head-quarters were removed to Naas.
During the year 1848, the head-quarters of the reserve battalion remained at St. John’s, in Canada East.
Lieut.-General Sir James Macdonell, K.C.B. and K.C.H., was appointed from the seventy-ninth to be colonel of the Seventy-first or Highland regiment, on the 8th of February 1849, upon the decease of Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B.
In compliance with instructions received upon the occasion of Her Majesty’s visit to Dublin, the head-quarters of the first battalion, with the effectives of three companies, proceeded from Naas to that garrison on the 28th of July, and were encamped in the Phœnix Park. The three detached companies also joined at the encampment on the same day. On the 13th of August the head-quarters and three companies returned to Naas.
The head-quarters and two companies of the reserve battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart., proceeded from St. John’s to Montreal, in aid of the civil power, on the 28th of April 1849. The head-quarters and three companies quitted Montreal and encamped on the Island of St. Helen’s on the 30th of June, but returned to St. John’s on the 16th of July. On the 17th of August 1849, the head-quarters and two companies proceeded from St. John’s to Montreal, in aid of the civil power, and returned to St. John’s on the 6th of September.
In April 1850, the first battalion proceeded from Naas to Dublin.
The head-quarters and two companies of the reserve battalion quitted St. John’s and Chambly on the 21st of May 1850, and arrived at Toronto on the 23d of that month, where the battalion was joined by the other companies, and it continued there during the remainder of the year.
In April 1851, the first battalion proceeded from Dublin to Mullingar, and in July following was removed to Newry.
During the year 1851 the reserve battalion continued to be stationed at Toronto.
In May 1852, the reserve battalion proceeded from Toronto to Kingston. On the 8th of June following, Lieut.-Colonel Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart., retired from the service by the sale of his commission, and was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel Nathaniel Massey Stack.
On the 1st of July 1852, the date to which this Record has been brought, the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment was stationed at Newry, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel William Denny; the reserve battalion continued at Kingston, in Canada.
1852.
Madeley lith. 3 Wellington St. Strand
SEVENTY FIRST HIGHLANDERS.LIGHT INFANTRY.
For Cannon’s Military Records.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Regiments raised in the spring of 1778:—
| 72d regiment, or Royal | Manchester Volunteers | disbanded in 1783. |
| 73d Highland regiment | numbered the 71st regiment in 1786. | |
| 74th Highland regiment | disbanded in 1784. | |
| 75th Prince of Wales’s | regiment | disbanded in 1783. |
| 76th Highland regiment | disbanded in 1784. | |
| 77th regiment, or Atholl | Highlanders | disbanded in 1783. |
| 78th Highland regiment | numbered the 72d regiment in 1786. | |
| 79th regiment, or Royal | Liverpool volunteers | disbanded in 1784. |
| 80th regiment, or Royal | Edinburgh volunteers | disbanded in 1784. |
| 81st Highland regiment | disbanded in 1783. | |
| 82d regiment | disbanded in 1784. | |
| 83d regiment, or Royal | Glasgow volunteers | disbanded in 1783. |
Two of these twelve regiments have been retained on the establishment of the Army, namely, the seventy-third and seventy-eighth, which are the present SEVENTY-FIRST and SEVENTY-SECOND regiments.
[7] A memoir of General the Right Honorable Sir David Baird, Bart., G.C.B., is inserted in the Appendix, page 144.
[9] The following allusion to Captain Gilchrist is made by Captain Munro, in his Narrative:—
“Here our regiment had the misfortune of burying Captain Gilchrist, a brave and experienced officer, whose loss the SEVENTY-THIRD had much cause to lament, he having always acted as a mentor to the young and inexperienced gentlemen of his corps. This veteran had the honor, when a subaltern, of witnessing the exploits of General Wolfe upon the plains of Quebec, and was now at the head of our grenadier company; but, having exerted himself too much upon the march to Conjeveran, he was seized at that place with a fever, which disabling him from conducting the grenadiers upon the detachment under Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher, affected his mind so deeply, particularly when he heard of their dismal fate, that a delirium came on during this march, of which he died, regretted and justly lamented by all.”
[10] Lieut.-Colonel James Craufurd, of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, was promoted to the local rank of Colonel in the East Indies on the 22d March 1780.
[11] The value of a pagoda is seven shillings and sixpence.
[12] A Narrative of the Military Operations on the Coromandel Coast, against the combined forces of the French, Dutch, and Hyder Ali, from 1780 to 1784, by Captain Innes Munro, of the Seventy-third or Lord Macleod’s Regiment of Highlanders.
[13] The following is extracted from a letter, dated 28th January 1782, from Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B., then at Fort George, Madras, addressed to the Earl of Shelburne, one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State:—
“Colonel Craufurd, of His Majesty’s Seventy-third regiment, having had my leave to return to Europe, will have the honor of delivering your lordship this letter.
“I should do injustice to the high sense I entertain of Colonel Craufurd’s merit as an officer, did I omit on this occasion mentioning how much he has acquitted himself to my satisfaction, and with honor and credit to himself, in the whole course of a most trying campaign. He was next in command to me at the battle of Sholingur, on which occasion his conduct was deserving of the highest applause.”
[14] Major John Elphinston, of the Seventy-third regiment, was promoted to the local rank of lieutenant-colonel in the East Indies on the 23d of May 1781.
[15] Droog signifies a fortified hill or rock.
[16] In 1794 Tippoo received back his sons, and immediately commenced secret negotiations with the French, who were then at war with Great Britain, in order to renew measures for “utterly destroying the English in India.” This animosity ended only with the death of the Sultan, which took place on the 4th of May 1799, while defending Seringapatam against his former opponents. His body was found amidst heaps of slain, and was interred in the mausoleum which he had erected over the tomb of his father, Hyder Ali, a portion of the victorious troops attending the ceremony.
[17] On the 23d of May 1821, His Majesty King George the Fourth was graciously pleased to authorise the Seventy-first to bear on the regimental colour and appointments the word “Hindoostan,” in commemoration of its distinguished services in the several actions in which it had been engaged, while in India, between the years 1780 and 1797.
[18] In consequence of the renewal of the war with France, in May 1803, the British Government introduced the “Army of Reserve Act,” which was passed in July following, for raising men for home service by ballot, and thus caused certain regiments to be augmented to two battalions. Volunteer and yeomanry corps were also formed in every part of the kingdom, in order to preserve Great Britain from the threatened invasion.
[19] Number of men which arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in January 1806, under Major General Sir David Baird.
| Brigades. | Regiments. | Number landed, including Recruits for India, attached. | |
| 1st. Commanded by Brigadier-General Beresford. | { | Twenty-fourth | 600 |
| { | Thirty-eighth | 900 | |
| { | Eighty-third | 800 | |
| 2d. Under Brigadier General Ferguson. | { | Seventy-first, 1st battalion | 800 |
| { | Seventy-second | 600 | |
| { | Ninety-third | 800 | |
| Fifty-ninth | 900 | ||
| Company’s recruits | 200 | ||
| Seamen and marines | 1,100 | ||
| Artillery | 200 | ||
| Twentieth light dragoons | 300 | ||
| ——— | |||
| Total | 7,200 | ||
[20] The lofty promontory of Southern Africa received the name of “Cabo da Boa Esperança” (Cape of Good Hope), from King John II. of Portugal, upon its discovery, in 1487, by Bartholomew Diaz, in consequence of a good hope being entertained of discovering the long-wished for passage to India, which ten years afterwards was realised by Vasco de Gama, who doubled the Cape, and continued the voyage to the Malabar coast. For more than a century the Cape continued as a temporary rendezvous for European mariners. In July 1620, Humphrey Fitzherbert and Andrew Shillinge, two of the East India Company’s commanders, took formal possession of the place, in the name of King James I., but no settlement was formed. In 1650 the government of the Netherlands resolved to colonize the Cape, which remained in possession of the Dutch until July 1795, when it was taken by the British for the Prince of Orange, but was restored to its former possessors by the Peace of Amiens, concluded in 1802. It was again captured by the British in 1806, in whose possession it has since remained.
[22] Lieut.-General Sir Harry Burrard landed during the action, but did not assume the command. Lieut.-General Sir Hew Dalrymple landed on the following day, and took command of the army. The force under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore was also disembarked during the negotiation, which subsequently took place, making the British army amount to thirty-two thousand men.
[24] Vide general orders of the 18th of January and 1st of February 1809; also a list of regiments employed under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore at Corunna, inserted in pages 161, &c. of the Appendix.
[25] The bonnet cocked is the pattern cap to which allusion is made in the above letter. This was in accordance with Lieut.-Colonel Pack’s application; and with respect to retaining the pipes, and dressing the pipers in the Highland garb, he added, “It cannot be forgotten how these pipes were obtained, and how constantly the regiment has upheld its title to them. These are the honorable characteristics which must preserve to future times the precious remains of the old corps, and of which I feel confident His Majesty will never have reason to deprive the Seventy-first regiment.”
[26] The remaining four companies of the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment arrived in the Peninsula in the course of the year 1811, namely, two companies in March, and two in July 1811.
[27] Major General William Carr Beresford, marshal in the Portuguese service, was appointed a Knight of the Bath on the 16th of October 1810.
[28] Lieut.-General Rowland Hill was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Bath on the 22d of February 1812.
[29] When Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill was created a Peer in May 1814, his title was connected with the gallant affair above recorded, as he was styled Baron Hill of Almaraz, and of Hawkstone, in the county of Salop.
[30] The officers of the Seventy-first regiment, to mark their admiration and esteem for this distinguished officer, had a monument erected to his memory.
[31] A list of the British and Hanoverian army at Waterloo, as formed in divisions and brigades, is inserted in the Appendix, page 166.
[32] Colonel the Honorable Henry Cadogan, who was mortally wounded at Vittoria on the 21st of June 1813.—Vide page 94.
[33] During the period the Seventy-first were stationed at York, they had the satisfaction of removing to consecrated ground the mortal remains of the brave grenadiers of the eighth regiment, who fell upon the 27th of April, 1813, in action with the Americans. These gallant soldiers had fallen, and were buried at a considerable distance from the shores of Lake Ontario; but as its waters had since encroached upon the land in this direction, they at length succeeded in breaking open their honorable grave, and the beach became strewed with their remains. This coming to the knowledge of the Seventy-first, they had them removed to the military burying ground in the vicinity of the garrison.
SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF THE
SEVENTY-FIRST REGIMENT,
HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY.
John Lord Macleod,
Appointed 19th December 1777.
Lord John Macleod was the eldest son of the Earl of Cromartie, and, with his father, was engaged in the attempt made in 1745 by Prince Charles Edward, the young pretender, to recover the throne of his ancestors. After the battle of Culloden, in 1746, the Earl of Cromartie was brought to trial, and pleaded guilty; but his life was spared on consideration of the remorse expressed by him for having been seduced in an unguarded moment from that loyalty which he had always, previously to the breaking out of the rebellion, evinced to the existing establishment, both in Church and State. Lord Macleod also received the royal mercy on account of his youth, and his regard for his parent, which had been the cause of his being concerned in the rebellion. The young lord also promised, that, should the royal clemency be extended to him, that his future life and fortune should be entirely devoted to His Majesty’s service, which promise was amply fulfilled in after years. Lord Macleod subsequently entered into the Swedish army, where he served for several years with great reputation, and was made a Commandant of the Order of the Sword in the kingdom of Sweden. While the American war of independence was being carried on, his Lordship returned to Great Britain, and in December 1777 received authority to raise a regiment of Highlanders, which was, on its formation, numbered the seventy-third, and subsequently the Seventy-first regiment, under the circumstances detailed in the Historical Record. His Lordship was appointed colonel of the newly raised regiment, to which a second battalion was added in September 1778, and embarked with the first battalion for India in January 1779, arriving at Madras in January 1780. The war with Hyder Ali, the powerful Sultan of the Mysore territory, commenced in that year, and his Lordship served under Major-General Sir Hector Munro in the first instance, and afterwards under Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote. On the 1st of June 1781, Colonel Lord Macleod was promoted to the local rank of major-general in the East Indies, in which year he returned to England, some misunderstanding having arisen between his Lordship and Major-General Stuart concerning priority of rank. His Lordship was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 20th of November 1782. On the forfeited estates being restored, in 1784, Major-General Lord Macleod obtained the family estate of Cromartie. His decease occurred on the 2d of April 1789, at Edinburgh.
The Honorable William Gordon,
Appointed 9th April 1789.
The Honorable William Gordon was appointed captain in the Sixteenth Light Dragoons, when that corps was raised in the year 1759. In October 1762, he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the 105th regiment, and in 1777, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the eighty-first regiment, which was afterwards disbanded. In 1781 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in April 1789 was nominated colonel of the Seventy-first Highlanders. He was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1793, to that of general in 1798, and was removed to the Twenty-first Royal North British Fusiliers in 1803. He died in 1816.
Sir John Francis Cradock, G.C.B. and K.C.,
afterwards
Lord Howden,
Appointed 6th August 1803.
This officer entered the army on the 15th of December 1777, as a cornet in the fourth regiment of horse, now the seventh dragoon guards; and on the 9th of July 1779, he exchanged to an ensigncy in the Coldstream guards, in which he was promoted to a lieutenancy, with the rank of captain, on the 12th of December 1781. On the 25th of June 1785, he was advanced to the rank of major of the twelfth dragoons, and on the 16th of September 1786, exchanged into the thirteenth foot, of which regiment he was appointed lieut.-colonel on the 16th of June 1789. Lieut.-Colonel Cradock commanded the thirteenth regiment in the West Indies, and on his return, in 1792, was appointed quartermaster-general in Ireland, where he was specially employed by Government in many of the disturbed counties. He went a second time to the West Indies, in the command of the second battalion of grenadiers, under the orders of General Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey, and was present at the reduction of Martinique (where he was wounded), St. Lucia, Guadaloupe, and at the siege of Fort Bourbon. Before the reduction of the second battalion of grenadiers in the West Indies he was appointed by Sir Charles Grey to be his aide-de-camp, and on his return to England he received the thanks of Parliament for his services.
On the 26th of February 1795, Lieut.-Colonel Cradock received the brevet rank of colonel, and on the 16th of April following was appointed colonel of the one hundred and twenty-seventh regiment, which was disbanded in 1798, when he was placed on half pay.
On the 1st of January 1798, Colonel Cradock was advanced to the rank of major-general, and served as quartermaster-general in Ireland during the rebellion of that year; was under the command of Lieut.-General Gerard (afterwards Viscount) Lake at the affair with the rebels at Vinegar Hill, and in the subsequent movements in the county of Wexford. Major-General Cradock accompanied Earl Cornwallis as quartermaster-general in his lordship’s march against the French forces that landed in Killala under General Humbert, and was severely wounded in the action at Ballynahinch, when the French and rebel force were defeated, and laid down their arms.
Major-General Cradock was afterwards appointed to the staff of the Mediterranean, under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, and proceeded on the expedition to Egypt, and was in the actions of the 8th, 13th, and 21st of March 1801. In that of the 13th, near Alexandria, he commanded the brigades which formed the advance against the enemy, and received the thanks of Sir Ralph Abercromby. He was second in command of the division of the army that proceeded to Cairo under the command of Lieut.-General Hutchinson (afterwards the Earl of Donoughmore), and was at the action of Rhamanie on the 9th of May 1801, and at the surrender of Cairo and Alexandria. The surrender of the latter place on the 2d of September following, terminated the campaign, after which he was appointed to the command of a force of 4,000 men, to proceed to Corfu; but the preliminaries of peace being signed on the 1st of October between Great Britain and France, put an end to the expedition, and he returned to England, when he was again honored with the thanks of Parliament. The Grand Seignior had also established the order of knighthood of the Crescent, of which the general officers who served in Egypt were made members.
On the 8th of May 1801, Major-General Cradock had been appointed colonel commandant of the fifty-fourth regiment, and upon the reduction of the army, in 1802, he was placed on half-pay. On the 6th of August 1803, he was appointed colonel of the Seventy-first regiment.
On the 1st of January 1805, Major-General Sir John Cradock, K.B., was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general, and appointed to the command of the forces at Madras. Upon the departure from India of General Lord Lake, in 1806, Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock remained for nearly a year in the command of the forces in that country. In 1808 he was appointed to command the forces in Portugal, during the critical period preceding the arrival of Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, and was afterwards appointed Governor of Gibraltar, which in a short time he resigned. On the 6th of January 1809, he was removed from the Seventy-first to the colonelcy of the forty-third regiment. In 1811 he was appointed governor of the Cape of Good Hope, and commander of the forces on that station, which he held until 1814, on the 4th of June of which year he was promoted to the rank of general.
General Sir John Cradock was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on the 2d of January 1815, and in 1819 was created a peer of Ireland, by the title of Baron Howden. At the coronation of His Majesty King William IV. he was advanced to the dignity of a Peer of the United Kingdom. By royal licence he afterwards altered his name to Caradoc, deeming that to be the ancient and veritable orthography. The decease of General the Right Honorable John Francis Caradoc, Baron Howden of Howden and Grimstone in the county of York, and of Cradockstown, county of Kildare, occurred on the 26th of July 1839, at the advanced age of eighty years.
Francis Dundas,
Appointed 7th January 1809.
The first commission of this officer was an ensigncy in the first foot guards, dated 4th of April 1775, and in May 1777 he joined the army in North America, was present at the battle of Brandywine on the 11th of September of that year, and in that of Germantown on the 4th of October following, also at the siege of ten forts on the river Delaware, and after their reduction in December the detachment of guards employed on that service rejoined the army, and went into winter quarters at Philadelphia. On the 23d of January 1778 he received a lieutenancy, with the rank of captain, in the first foot guards. Captain Dundas served the campaign of that year, and was present in the action of Monmouth Court-House on the 28th of June 1778, fought during the march of the British army from Philadelphia to New York, in which the second battalion of the first foot guards was principally engaged. Having soon after been appointed to the light company of that corps, he was employed on various detached services in 1778 and 1779, in the course of which the company to which he belonged sustained considerable losses.
The corps of guards being detached into South Carolina, joined the army under Lieut.-General the Earl Cornwallis, in 1780, and the light company forming his lordship’s advanced guard, it was almost every day engaged. Captain Dundas commanded it at the battle of Guildford and at York Town.
Captain Dundas was promoted to a company in the first foot guards, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, on the 11th of April 1783, and on the 6th of June following exchanged into the forty-fifth regiment, from which he was transferred to the first foot on the 31st of March 1787. With the first battalion of the latter regiment Lieut.-Colonel Dundas embarked for Jamaica in January 1790, and returned to England in July 1791. In October 1793 he was appointed aide-de-camp to King George III., and received the brevet rank of colonel.
Colonel Dundas was employed in that rank in the West Indies as adjutant-general to the army under General Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey, and was present at the siege of Martinique and the other adjacent islands in 1794. Upon his return to England, being appointed on the 9th of October 1794, colonel of the Scots brigade, afterwards numbered the ninety-fourth regiment, he joined it in Scotland, and raised a new battalion.
Major-General Dundas, to which rank he was advanced on the 26th of February 1795, was employed on the staff in North Britain until ordered to join the army preparing for foreign service under Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, at Southampton. Having returned to Portsmouth with the expedition, he was soon afterwards appointed to the command at the Cape of Good Hope, and in August 1796 he embarked for that colony. Being appointed lieut.-governor, with the command of the troops under the governor, he continued to hold that appointment until Lord Macartney returned to England in November 1798, leaving him to act as civil governor. Upon the arrival of Lord Macartney’s successor, in December 1799, Major-General Dundas resumed his former situation; but that officer being recalled in 1801, the civil with the military authority again devolved on Major-General Dundas, and he held both until the Cape was restored to the Dutch by the treaty of peace concluded in 1803. Upon his return to England in June 1803, Lieut.-General Dundas, to which rank he had been promoted on the 29th of April of the previous year, was placed on the staff in the southern district of Great Britain, under General Sir David Dundas, K.B. Towards the end of 1805 Lieut.-General Dundas was appointed to the command of a division ordered to join the army assembling in Hanover under Lieut.-General Lord Cathcart, and on his return, in 1806, he was again appointed to the staff in the southern district. On the 7th of January 1809, Lieut.-General Dundas was appointed by His Majesty to be colonel of the Seventy-first regiment, and on the 1st of January 1812 was advanced to the rank of general. He had been appointed governor of Carrickfergus in Ireland in 1787, and was transferred in January 1817 to the governorship of Dumbarton Castle in Scotland.
The decease of General Dundas occurred at Edinburgh on the 16th of January 1824.
Sir Gordon Drummond, G.C.B.
Appointed 16th January 1824.
Removed to the forty-ninth regiment on the 21st of September 1829, and to the eighth foot on the 24th of April 1846.
Sir Colin Halkett, K.C.B.
Appointed 21st September 1829.
Removed to the thirty-first regiment on the 28th of March 1838, and to the forty-fifth regiment on the 12th of July 1847.
Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham,
Appointed 28th March 1838.
This officer was appointed ensign in the sixty-sixth regiment on the 20th of January 1803, lieutenant in the ninth foot on the 25th of February, and was removed to the first life guards on the 10th of March of the same year. On the 14th of February 1805 he was promoted to the rank of captain in the twenty-eighth regiment, and was removed to the thirteenth light dragoons on the 13th of June following, and in 1809 was appointed deputy assistant quartermaster-general in the army in the Peninsula under Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. In March 1810, Captain Whittingham was promoted to the rank of major, serving with the Portuguese army. He was subsequently employed in America; but the chief scene of his services was with the army in Spain, for which he was peculiarly qualified by his perfect knowledge of the Spanish language. He was first permitted to join that service as aide-de-camp to General Castanos, and in that capacity shared in the battle and victory of Baylen. Major Whittingham afterwards served under the Duke of Albuquerque, and was severely wounded at Talavera. Soon afterwards he obtained the command of the Spanish cavalry, and was present at the battle of Barrosa, fought on the 5th of March 1811. On the 30th of May following he was promoted lieut.-colonel in the Portuguese army. He was next intrusted to raise and command a large corps of Spanish troops clothed and paid by the British Government. In 1812, as major-general in command of this well-disciplined corps, he was, in junction with the British army at Alicant, successfully opposed to Marshal Suchet, and was again wounded at the battle of Castalla; after which he served with distinction in command of a division of infantry under Lieut.-General Sir John Murray, and subsequently under Lieut.-General Lord William Bentinck on the eastern coast of Spain.
At the restoration of peace in 1814, Lieut.-Colonel Whittingham returned to England, his conduct in Spain being reported in very flattering terms by the British ambassador in Spain and by the Duke of Wellington. On the 4th of June 1814, he was appointed aide-de-camp to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, with the rank of colonel in the army; and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, with the honor of knighthood, on the 4th of June 1815.
Upon the return of Napoleon from Elba in March 1815, Colonel Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham returned to the Peninsula, at the particular request of the King of Spain, and on his arrival at Madrid, he was invested with the Grand Cross of the Order of San Fernando. In the year 1819 he was appointed governor of Dominica, and in 1822 his services were transferred to India as quartermaster-general of the king’s troops; he subsequently held the command as major-general, to which rank he was promoted on the 27th of May 1825, successively in the Cawnpoor and Meerut divisions.
Major-General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham served at the siege of Bhurtpore, which was captured in January 1826; and received the thanks of Parliament for his conduct on that occasion. He was also nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on the 26th of December following.
Having returned from India in 1835, Major-General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham was appointed to the command of the forces in the Windward and Leeward Islands in 1836. On the 28th of March 1838, he was appointed colonel of the Seventy-first Regiment, and on the 28th of June following was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general. He was permitted to resign the Windward and Leeward command in 1839, in order to undertake the command-in-chief at Madras, receiving at the same time from General Lord Hill, then commanding-in-chief, a flattering testimonial of his services while in the West Indies.
Lieut.-General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham arrived at Madras on the 1st of August 1840, where he continued until the 19th of January 1841, the date of his decease.
Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart., K.C.B.
Appointed 15th March 1841.
This distinguished officer commenced his military career as an ensign in the thirty-eighth regiment, his commission being dated the 30th of September 1793. He joined the regiment in January 1794 at Belfast, and in April proceeded with it to Flanders, where it formed part of the army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of York. On arrival at the seat of war, the thirty-eighth regiment was ordered to join the corps under the Austrian General Count Clèrfait, who commanded the troops in West Flanders, and it was attached to the division under Major-General Hammerstein, together with the eighth light dragoons and twelfth foot. Ensign Reynell was present in the action on the heights of Lincelles on the 18th of May, and at the battle of Hoglade on the 13th of June 1794. He afterwards served with the army under the Duke of York, and was in Nimeguen when that town was besieged. On the 3d of December following, when cantoned between the rivers Rhine and the Waal, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the thirty-eighth regiment. Lieutenant Reynell served during the winter campaign of 1795, and retreat through Westphalia to the Weser, and there embarked for England. He accompanied the thirty-eighth regiment to the West Indies in May 1796, and was present at the capture of the island of Trinidad in the early part of 1797. On the 22d of July 1797 he was promoted to a company in the second West India regiment, and joined that corps at Grenada.
Captain Reynell quitted Grenada early in 1798, in consequence of being appointed assistant adjutant-general at St. Domingo, where he remained until that island was evacuated by the British in September, when he returned to England. In the beginning of 1799 he revisited St. Domingo, as one of the suite of Brigadier-General the Honorable Thomas Maitland, then employed in framing a commercial treaty with the negro chief Toussaint L’Ouverture, who had risen to the supreme authority at St. Domingo. When it was concluded, Captain Reynell returned to England in July of the same year.
On the 8th of August 1799 Captain Reynell was transferred to a company in the fortieth regiment, with the first battalion of which he embarked for the Helder in that month, and joined the army, which was at first commanded by Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, and afterwards by the Duke of York. Captain Reynell was present in the action of the 10th of September; also in the battle of the 19th of September, when he was the only captain of the first battalion of the fortieth regiment that was not killed or wounded; he was also present in the subsequent battles of the 2d and 6th of October. Captain Reynell, upon the British army being withdrawn from Holland, re-embarked with the first battalion of the fortieth regiment, and arrived in England in November 1799.
In April 1800 Captain Reynell embarked with his regiment for the Mediterranean, and went in the first instance to Minorca, afterwards to Leghorn; returned to Minorca, and proceeded with a large force under Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby for the attack of Cadiz. Signals for disembarking were made; but although the boats had actually put off from the ships, a recall was ordered, in consequence of the plague raging at Cadiz. After this he proceeded up the Mediterranean again, and in November landed at Malta.
The flank companies of the fortieth regiment having been allowed to volunteer their services in the expedition to Egypt, Captain Reynell proceeded thither in command of the light company (one of the four flank companies detached under Colonel Brent Spencer), and was present in the action at the landing on the 8th of March 1801. On this occasion the flank companies of the fortieth were on the right of the line, and were particularly noticed for the gallant style in which they mounted the sand-hills immediately where they landed. Captain Reynell was present in the battle of the 13th of March, and commanded the right out-piquet of the army, in the morning of the 21st of that month, when the French attacked the British near Alexandria, on which occasion General Sir Ralph Abercromby was mortally wounded. Soon after Captain Reynell proceeded with a small British corps and some Turkish battalions to Rosetta, of which easy possession was taken. He was present in an action at Rhamanie, and followed the French to Grand Cairo, where that part of their army capitulated; and returned as escort in charge of the French troops to Rosetta; and after they had embarked he joined the force under Major-General Sir Eyre Coote before Alexandria. The surrender of Alexandria, on the 2d of September 1801, terminated the campaign, for his services in which he received the gold medal conferred by the Grand Seignior on the several officers employed.
Captain Reynell was afterwards appointed aide-de-camp to Major-General Cradock, who was ordered to proceed from Egypt with a force of four thousand men to Corfu; but while at sea counter-orders were received, and he proceeded to Malta, and subsequently to England. In July 1804 he embarked as aide-de-camp to Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock, K.B., who had been appointed to the command of the troops at Madras, and while on the passage, namely, the 3d of August 1804, he was promoted to the rank of major in the fortieth regiment.
On the 10th of March 1805 Major Reynell received the brevet rank of lieut.-colonel, upon being appointed deputy quartermaster-general to the King’s troops in the East Indies. In July following he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Marquis Cornwallis, governor-general of India, and accompanied his lordship from Madras to Bengal, with whom he remained until his lordship’s decease, at Ghazepore, in October 1805. Lieut.-Colonel Reynell returned to Madras immediately afterwards, and was appointed military secretary to the Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock, the commander-in-chief at that presidency. He officiated during several months of the year 1806 as deputy adjutant-general in India, in which country he remained until October 1807, when he returned with Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock to Europe, and arrived in England in April 1808.
Lieut.-Colonel Reynell resigned the appointment of deputy quartermaster-general in India, and was brought on full pay as major of the ninety-sixth regiment on the 5th May 1808, and on the 22d of September following was appointed major in the Seventy-first regiment.
In October 1808, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Reynell embarked as military secretary to Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock, who had been appointed to command the forces in Portugal, and landed in November at Lisbon. He remained in Portugal until April 1809, when Sir John Cradock was superseded in the command of the forces in Portugal by Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. Lieut.-Colonel Reynell afterwards accompanied Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock to Cadiz, Seville, and Gibraltar, of which latter place Sir John Cradock was appointed governor, and Lieut.-Colonel Reynell remained there as military secretary until September, when he returned to England.
Lieut.-Colonel Reynell joined the Seventy-first regiment at Brabourne-Lees Barracks in December 1809, immediately after its return from Walcheren. In September 1810 he embarked at Deal with six companies of the Seventy-first regiment for Portugal, landed at Lisbon towards the end of that month, marched soon after to Mafra, and thence to Sobral, where the six companies joined the army under Lieut.-General Viscount Wellington. In October Lieut.-Colonel Reynell had the honor of being particularly mentioned by Viscount Wellington in his despatch, containing an account of the repulse of the attack of the French at Sobral on the 14th of that month. The British army shortly afterwards retired to the lines of Torres Vedras, and Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Reynell was appointed assistant adjutant-general to the fourth division under Major-General the Honorable George Lowry Cole.
Early in March 1811, the army of Marshal Massena broke up from its entrenched position at Santarem, and retreated to the northward. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Reynell entered Santarem with the fourth division the day after Marshal Massena had left it, and continued in the pursuit of the French army to the Mondego. In the affair of Redinha he had a horse killed under him. From Espinhal the fourth division was ordered to retrograde, and recross the Tagus, for the purpose of reinforcing Marshal Sir William Carr Beresford. In 1811 he joined the Marshal at Portalegre, and being the senior British assistant adjutant-general, was directed to join Marshal Beresford’s head-quarters, and proceeded with him to Campo Mayor, from which the enemy retired; was also present at the capture of Olivença, and subsequently accompanied the marshal to Zafra, between which place and Llerena a smart skirmish occurred with the enemy’s hussars. In May 1811, Lieut.-Colonel Reynell returned to England from Lisbon with despatches from Viscount Wellington.
In July 1811, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Reynell embarked as military secretary to Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock, K.B., who had been appointed governor and commander of the forces at the Cape of Good Hope, where he arrived by the end of September. On the 4th of June 1813, he received the brevet rank of colonel; and on the 5th of August 1813, he was promoted lieut.-colonel of the Seventy-first regiment, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Henry Cadogan, who was mortally wounded in the battle of Vittoria; in February following, being desirous of joining the corps, Colonel Reynell resigned his staff situation at the Cape, and proceeded to England, where he arrived in May 1814. In July of that year he was appointed adjutant-general to the force then preparing for service in America under Lieut.-General Lord Hill; but, other operations being then in view, that appointment was cancelled.
Colonel Reynell took the command of the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment at Limerick in December 1814, and embarked with it from Cork in January of the following year, as part of an expedition for North America; but peace having been concluded with the United States, and contrary winds having prevented the sailing of the vessels, the destination of the battalion was changed. In March Colonel Reynell received orders to proceed with his battalion to the Downs, where, in the middle of April, it was transhipped into small vessels, and sent immediately to Ostend, to join the army forming in Flanders, in consequence of Napoleon Bonaparte having returned from Elba to France.
In the memorable battle of Waterloo, fought on the 18th of June 1815, Colonel Reynell commanded the first battalion of the Seventy-first regiment, and was wounded in the foot on that occasion. He afterwards succeeded to the command of Major-General Adam’s brigade, consisting of the first battalions of the fifty-second and Seventy-first, with six companies of the second, and two companies of the third battalion of the ninety-fifth regiment, in consequence of that officer being wounded. Colonel Reynell commanded the light brigade in the several operations that took place on the route to Paris, and entered that capital at the head of the brigade on the 7th of July 1815, and encamped with it in the Champs Elysées, being the only British troops quartered within the barriers. In this year he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and received the Cross of a Knight of the Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa, also a Cross of the fourth class of the Russian Military Order of St. George.
Colonel Reynell remained with the “Army of Occupation” in France until October 1818, when, after a grand review of the united British, Danish, and Russian contingents at Valenciennes, the Seventy-first marched to Calais, and embarked for England. Colonel Reynell continued in command of the regiment until the 12th of August 1819, the date of his promotion to the rank of major-general.
In April 1820 Major-General Reynell was suddenly ordered to proceed to Glasgow, having been appointed to the staff of North Britain as a major-general, in which country he remained until March 1821, when, in consequence of the tranquillity of Scotland, the extra general officer was discontinued. Immediately afterwards he was appointed to the staff of the East Indies, and directed to proceed to Bombay, for which presidency he embarked in September following, and where he arrived in March 1822. After remaining there a month, Major-General Reynell was removed to the staff of the Bengal Presidency, by order of the Marquis of Hastings. In August Major-General Reynell proceeded up the Ganges, and took the command of the Meerut division on the 3d of December 1822.
The next operation of importance in which Major-General Reynell was engaged was the siege of Bhurtpore. Early in December 1825 a large force had been assembled for this purpose, to the command of which he had been appointed, when, just as the troops were about to move into the Bhurtpore states, General Lord Combermere, the new commander-in-chief in India, arrived from England, and Major-General Reynell was then appointed to command the first division of infantry. He commanded that division during the siege, and directed the movements of the column of assault at the north-east angle on the 18th of January 1826, when the place was carried, and the citadel surrendered a few hours after. For this service he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Bath, as well as honored with the thanks of both Houses of Parliament.
Major-General Sir Thomas Reynell succeeded to the baronetcy upon the decease of his brother Sir Richard Littleton Reynell in September 1829; and on the 30th of January 1832 was appointed by His Majesty King William IV. to be colonel of the ninety-ninth regiment, from which he was removed to the eighty-seventh Royal Irish fusiliers on the 15th of August 1834. On the 10th of January 1837, he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and on the 14th of June 1839 was appointed a member of the consolidated board of general officers for the inspection and regulation of the clothing of the army. On the 15th of March 1841, he was appointed by Her Majesty to the colonelcy of the Seventy-first regiment. The decease of Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart., K.C.B., occurred at Avisford, near Arundel, on the 10th of February 1848.
Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B.
Appointed 18th February 1848.
This officer entered the army as ensign in the twenty-ninth regiment on the 23d of November 1794, and was promoted lieutenant in the fortieth regiment on the 1st of May 1796. He was advanced to the rank of captain in the eighth West India regiment on the 25th of June 1798, and on the 26th of May 1803 was appointed captain in the royal staff corps, and on the 7th of April 1808 was promoted major in the fifth West India regiment, in which year he joined the staff of the army in the Peninsula, first as assistant adjutant-general, and afterwards as assistant quartermaster-general. Major Arbuthnot was present at the battles of Roleia, Vimiera, and Corunna.
On the 24th of May 1810, he received the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army, and was appointed deputy quartermaster-general at the Cape of Good Hope, where he arrived on the 25th March 1811. Lieut.-Colonel Arbuthnot was appointed aide-de-camp to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent on the 7th of February 1812, and in May 1813 proceeded from the Cape to the Peninsula, and was present at the battles of the Pyrenees, Nivelle, and Orthes. For these services in the Peninsula and south of France he was decorated with a cross and one clasp. On the 24th of March 1814, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Arbuthnot was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the fifty-seventh regiment, and on the 4th of June following received the brevet rank of colonel in the army. In January 1815 he was nominated a Knight Commander of the Bath, and on the 12th of August 1819 was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Seventy-first regiment. On the 27th of May 1825 he attained the rank of major-general, and on the 15th of August 1836 was appointed colonel of the ninety-ninth regiment. Sir Thomas Arbuthnot was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general on the 28th of June 1838, and was removed to the fifty-second regiment on the 23d of December 1839. In August 1842 he was appointed to the command of the northern and midland districts of Great Britain, which he retained until his decease. On the 7th of December 1844 Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot was removed from the fifty-second to the ninth foot, and on the 18th of February 1848 was appointed colonel of the Seventy-first regiment. Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., died at Salford, near Manchester, on the 26th of January 1849.
Sir James Macdonell, K.C.B. and K.C.H.
Appointed from the seventy-ninth regiment on the 8th February 1849.
APPENDIX.
Memoir of Captain Philip Melvill of the Seventy-first Regiment.
Captain Philip Melvill was the fourth and youngest son of John Melvill, Esq., of Dunbar, and was born on the 7th of April 1762. At the age of sixteen he obtained a commission, on the 31st December 1777, as a lieutenant in the seventy-third now the Seventy-first regiment, commanded by Colonel John Lord Macleod, on condition of raising a certain number of men, which, by the influence of his relatives in the north of Scotland, he effected. Lieutenant Melvill joined the regiment at Elgin, and was appointed to the light company. In 1779 he embarked for India with his regiment, and arrived at Madras in January 1780. His services now became identical with those of Captain Baird, under whose command he proceeded as part of a reinforcement to Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, as detailed in the foregoing pages. In the action on the 10th of September 1780, at Perambaukum, Lieutenant Melvill was severely wounded in both arms; his left being broken, and, after surrendering, the muscles of his right arm were cut in two by a sabre. He was dashed unmercifully to the ground, and as he lay exhausted, a horseman wounded him in the back with his spear. In this miserable situation he continued for two days and two nights, exposed to the intense heat of a burning sun, and to the danger of being torn to pieces by beasts of prey. He was afterwards conveyed to Hyder’s camp, and was confined at Bangalore with the other prisoners. After three years and a half of confinement, they obtained their release in March 1784.
Lieutenant Melvill had been advanced to the rank of captain on the 22d of June 1783; and being disabled from military duty by the condition of his wounds, was, on being released from captivity, enabled to visit his brother at Bengal, where he remained until the beginning of the year 1786. Captain Melvill then returned to England, when he was appointed, on the 3d of January 1787, to the command of an invalid company stationed in Guernsey, where he remained for five years. He subsequently exchanged into a company at Portsmouth, and was afterwards placed on the retired list, in consequence of ill-health. After remaining a year in retirement at Topsham, in Devonshire, Captain Melvill, on the 29th of September 1796, exchanged his full pay as a retired captain for the command of an invalid company stationed at Pendennis Castle in Cornwall.
In the year 1797, when preparations were made by France for invading Great Britain, Captain Melvill, who had been appointed lieut.-governor of Pendennis Castle, was mainly instrumental in forming a corps of volunteers, which was subsequently retained, first as the Pendennis Volunteer Artillery, and afterwards as a body of local militia.
Lieut.-Governor Melvill died on the 27th October 1811, aged forty-nine, and was interred in Falmouth Church.
Memoir of the services of General the Right Honorable Sir David Baird, Bart., G.C.B. & K.C., formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the Seventy-first Regiment.
This celebrated commander commenced his military career as an ensign in the second foot, his commission being dated the 14th of December 1772. He joined the regiment at Gibraltar in April 1773, and in 1775 returned with it to England. In February 1778 he was promoted lieutenant in the second foot, and on the 16th of December 1777 was promoted to a company in the seventy third regiment, then being raised by Colonel Lord Macleod, which was afterwards numbered the Seventy-first regiment. This corps Captain Baird joined at Elgin, from whence he marched to Fort George, and embarked for Guernsey. In January 1779 he embarked with his regiment for India, and arrived at Madras in January 1780. The regiment, shortly after its arrival in India, was called upon to take part in the war against Hyder Ali, the powerful sovereign of the Mysore, whose army exceeded eighty thousand, besides a strong body under a general of the name of Meer Saib, who had entered the Company’s territories on the north. This force was rendered still more formidable and effective by the aid of Monsieur Lally’s troops, and a great number of French officers who served his artillery, and even directed all his marches and operations. The British army ready to oppose this invasion did not consist of five thousand men. These were commanded by Major-General Sir Hector Munro, K.B., and were stationed at St. Thomas’s Mount, in the immediate neighbourhood of Madras, in order to cover that city. Here they were joined by Colonel Lord Macleod and the seventy-third regiment.
Hyder Ali, after a march across the country, which he marked by fire and sword, suddenly turned upon Arcot, and on the 21st of August 1780 sat down before that city, as the first operation of the war. Arcot was the capital town of the territory of the nabob of that name, the only prince in India who was friendly and in alliance with the Company. It contained immense stores of provisions, and, what was equally wanted, a vast treasure of money. There was another important reason, which required on the part of the British an immediate attention to this movement. Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, with a body of troops, was in the Northern Circars; and Hyder Ali, by besieging Arcot, had interposed himself between this detachment and the main army under Major-General Sir Hector Munro. Orders were immediately sent to Lieut.-Colonel Baillie to hasten to the Mount, to join the main army; and Sir Hector Munro, at once to meet Lieut.-Colonel Baillie and to raise the siege of Arcot, marched on the 25th of August with his army for Conjeveram, a place forty miles distant from Madras, in the Arcot road.
The British troops were followed during the whole way by the enemy’s horse. They were four days on their march to Conjeveram, and when they arrived, they found the whole country under water, and no provisions of any kind to be procured. So relax were the commissaries appointed by the Madras government, that the army had but four days’ provisions; in the midst of the most fertile region of India, and in the very onset and commencement of a war, the troops were in danger of being famished. The army had no other resource than to spread itself individually over the fields, and, at the risk of being destroyed in detail by the enemy’s horse, collect the growing rice, up to their knees in water.
Hyder Ali, as the British general foresaw, raised the siege of Arcot upon this movement towards Conjeveram; but, what he had not foreseen, his politic enemy threw his army in such a manner across the only possible road of Lieut.-Colonel Baillie’s detachment, as to prevent the desired junction, which had been expected to have taken place on the 30th of August, the day after the arrival of the army at Conjeveram. Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, before this last movement of the enemy to cut him off, had been stopped for some days, at no great distance, by the sudden rising of a small river. Hyder made use of this time to throw his army between them. On the 5th of September Lieut.-Colonel Baillie effected his passage over the river, but Hyder, being informed of it, made a second movement, which completely intercepted him. In order in some degree, however, to defeat this movement, but with slight hopes of success, Sir Hector Munro changed his position likewise, and advanced about two miles, to a high ground on the Tripassoor road, which was the way that the expected detachment was to come. By these movements the hostile camps were brought within two miles of each other, the enemy lying about that distance to the left of the British.
Lieut.-Colonel Baillie had passed the river in his way on the afternoon of the 5th of September, and encamped for the night. Hyder, on receiving this information, made the movement before related, and other arrangements on the following morning, the 6th of September, and Sir Hector Munro changed his own position at the same time. This change was scarcely effected when the evident bustle in the enemy’s army explained its purpose. In fact the purport of Hyder’s movement was to cover and support a great attack at that moment making on Lieut.-Colonel Baillie’s detachment. He had already sent his brother-in-law, Meer Saib, with eight thousand horse upon that service, and immediately afterwards detached his son, Tippoo Saib, with six thousand infantry, eighteen thousand cavalry, and twelve pieces of cannon, to join in a united and decisive attack. They encountered Lieut.-Colonel Baillie at a place called Perambaukum, where he made the most masterly dispositions to withstand this vast superiority of force. After an exceedingly severe and well-fought action, of several hours’ continuance, the enemy was routed, and Lieut.-Colonel Baillie gained as complete a victory as a total want of cavalry and the smallness of his numbers could possibly admit. Through these circumstances he lost his baggage. His whole force did not exceed two thousand sepoys, and from one to two companies of European artillery.
This success, however, by diminishing Lieut.-Colonel Baillie’s force, only added to his distress. The British camp was within a few miles, but Hyder’s army lay full in his way, and he was, moreover, in the greatest want of provisions. Under these circumstances, Lieut.-Colonel Baillie despatched a messenger to Major-General Sir Hector Munro, with an account of his situation, stating that he had sustained a loss which rendered him incapable of advancing, while his total want of provisions rendered it equally impossible for him to remain in his present position. A council of war being held, at which Colonel Lord Macleod assisted, it was resolved to send a reinforcement to Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, to enable him to push forward in despite of the enemy. Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher, Captain Baird, and other officers were sent off with a strong detachment to the relief of Lieut.-Colonel Baillie. The main force of this detachment consisted of the flank companies of the first battalion of the Seventy-third, afterwards numbered the Seventy-first regiment, the light company being commanded by Captain Baird. There were two other companies of European grenadiers, one company of sepoy marksmen, and ten companies of sepoy grenadiers. In all about a thousand men. The junction was effected with some difficulty on the 9th of September, and the following day was appointed for the march of the united detachment. Accordingly, day-light had scarcely broken when it commenced its march. By seven o’clock in the morning of the 10th of September the enemy poured down upon them in thousands. The British fought with the greatest heroism, and at one time victory seemed to be in their favour. But the tumbrils containing the ammunition accidentally blew up with two dreadful explosions in the centre of their lines. The destruction of men was great, but the total loss of their ammunition was still more fatal to the survivors. This turned the fortune of the day, and after successive prodigies of valour the brave sepoys were almost to a man cut to pieces.
Lieut.-Colonels Baillie and Fletcher, assisted by Captain Baird, made one more desperate effort. They rallied the Europeans, and, under the fire of the whole of the immense artillery of the enemy, gained a little eminence, and formed themselves into a fresh square. In this form did this invincible band, though totally without ammunition, the officers fighting with their swords and the soldiers with their bayonets, resist and repulse the myriads of the enemy in thirteen different attacks, until at length, incapable of withstanding the successive torrents of fresh troops which were continually pouring upon them, they were fairly borne down and trampled on, many of them still continuing to fight under the legs of the horses and elephants.
The loss of the British in the action at Perambaukum was of course great; and it is a reasonable subject of surprise that any escaped. Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher was amongst the slain. Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, Captain Baird, after being severely wounded in four places, together with Captain the Honorable John Lindsay, Lieutenant Philip Melvill, and other officers, with two hundred Europeans, were made prisoners. They were carried into the presence of Hyder, who, with a true Asiatic barbarism, received them with the most insolent triumph and ferocious pride. The British officers, with a spirit worthy of their country, retorted his pride by an indignant coolness and contempt. “Your son will inform you,” said Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, appealing to Tippoo, who was present, “that you owe the victory to our disaster rather than to our defeat.” Hyder angrily ordered them from his presence, and commanded them instantly to prison, where they remained for three years and a half, enduring great hardships, Captain Baird being chained by the leg to another prisoner.
In March 1784 Captain Baird was released, and in July joined his regiment at Arcot. In 1786 the Seventy-third was directed to be numbered the Seventy-first regiment. Captain Baird was promoted to the rank of major in the Seventy-first regiment on the 5th of June 1787, and in October obtained leave of absence, when he returned to Great Britain. He was advanced to the lieut.-colonelcy of the regiment on the 8th of December 1790, and in 1791 proceeded to India, and joined the army under General the Earl Cornwallis. Lieut.-Colonel Baird commanded a brigade of sepoys, and was present at the attack of a number of droogs or hill forts; also at the siege of Seringapatam in 1791 and 1792; likewise at the storming of Tippoo’s lines and camps on the island of Seringapatam. In 1793 the Lieut.-Colonel commanded a brigade of Europeans, and was present at the siege of Pondicherry. On the 21st of August 1795, he was promoted to the brevet rank of colonel, and in October 1797 embarked at Madras with the Seventy-first for Europe, but on arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, in January following, he was appointed brigadier-general, and placed on that staff in command of a brigade. He was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 18th of June 1798, and was removed to the staff in India. Major-General Baird sailed from the Cape of Good Hope for Madras in command of two regiments of infantry and the drafts of the twenty-eighth dragoons, and arrived at his destination in January 1799. On the 1st of February he joined the army forming at Vellore for the attack of Seringapatam, and commanded a brigade of Europeans. On the 4th of May Major-General Baird commanded the storming party with success, and, in consequence, was presented by the army, through Lieut.-General, afterwards Lord Harris, Commander-in-Chief, with Tippoo Sultan’s state sword, and a dress sword from the field officers serving under his immediate command. In 1800 he was removed to the Bengal staff, and on the 9th of May of that year was appointed colonel-commandant of the fifty-fourth, and colonel of that regiment on the 8th of May 1801, in which year he was appointed to command the forces which were sent from India to Egypt, and arrived at Cosseir in June, afterwards crossed the desert, and embarked on the Nile, arriving in the following month at Grand Cairo. He joined the army under Lieut.-General Sir John Hutchinson, afterwards the Earl of Donoughmore, a few days before the surrender of Alexandria, which capitulated on the 2d of September, and terminated the campaign in Egypt.