In the spring of 1778 a succession of detachments ranged the country for many miles round Philadelphia, and opened communications for bringing in supplies of provision, in which service the Seventeenth were actively employed.

The American troops were encamped in Valley Forge, and Captain Lord Cathcart, of the Seventeenth, being sent out with twenty-five men to reconnoitre the enemy's position in the direction of White-marsh, ascertained that a patrole of ten American soldiers had taken possession of a house on the road leading to that place. The men of the Seventeenth surrounded the house, and his lordship summoned the Americans to surrender; but they had barricaded the doors and windows, and refused to obey the summons. A few men of the Seventeenth dismounted, sent some shots through the door, and approached the house to try the effect of cold steel, when the Americans begged for quarter, and were taken prisoners to Philadelphia. This excursion of twenty-eight miles was performed without a halt.

On the evening of the 3rd of May a small detachment of the regiment left Philadelphia to co-operate with the troops destined to drive nine hundred Americans, under Brigadier-General Lacy, from their post at Crooked Billet. The Americans retreated, but were overtaken, attacked, and one hundred and fifty men killed, wounded, and taken prisoners; their baggage was also captured, and sold for the benefit of the troops employed in this service.

Three thousand Americans, under the Marquis de la Fayette, took post on Barren Hill, seven miles in advance of General Washington's camp, and a detachment of the regiment formed part of the force sent against this portion of the American army. On the morning of the 21st of May, as the British approached, the Marquis de la Fayette made a precipitate retreat; but his rear was overtaken by the dragoons, and some execution done.

The French monarch having acknowledged the independence of the revolted British provinces, and concluded a treaty with them, the nature of the war became so far changed that the evacuation of Philadelphia took place, and the army proceeded to New York. In the march from Philadelphia, through the Jerseys, the Seventeenth were actively employed, and performed much severe and harassing duty; the route lying through woods, over rivers, and along difficult roads, with the enemy hovering on the flanks and rear, occasioned the services of the light cavalry to be much required. On the 28th of June, as the last brigade descended from the heights of Freehold, in New Jersey, the enemy appeared in the rear and on both flanks, and some sharp fighting took place; when the Seventeenth, being with the advance guard, were ordered from the front to take part in the engagement. The enemy was repulsed; the army resumed its march, and one troop of the regiment, being in advance, took part in putting to flight a body of Americans. Having crossed the channel to Sandy Hook, the army embarked from thence for New York.

Soon after their return from Philadelphia the strength of the Seventeenth was increased by the receipt of many effective men and all the serviceable horses from the Sixteenth Light Dragoons, which corps was ordered to return to Great Britain; the horses were many of them American, as the Sixteenth had only eighty English horses left.

From New York the regiment was sent to the east end of Long Island, where it remained during the winter; and in the spring of 1779 it was ordered to take up a position in advance of the lines in front of New York.

The Seventeenth was the only British cavalry regiment in America, and no other corps was sent out; there were, however, several independent troops of provincial cavalry in the British service, also a corps, partly cavalry and partly infantry, commanded by Captain Lord Cathcart of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, who held the rank of Colonel in the provincials, and also another corps, or "legion," as it was more frequently called, under Colonel Banastre Tarleton. This legion had usually a select party of the Seventeenth attached to it, who wore their own uniform, and became celebrated for their excellent conduct on the out-post duty, also for their daring spirit of enterprise when employed on detached services. While serving remotely from the head-quarters, their own uniform became worn out, and they were offered the dress of the legion; but they were proud of their regiment, and they preferred patching up their old clothing to preserve the distinction[2].

The post occupied by the regiment in front of New York was held for the purpose of clearing the country of the hostile parties, and keeping the roads clear to enable the supplies of the army to be brought in, and skirmishes occurred almost daily.

Serjeant Thomas Tucker, of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, traversing the country with twelve men, came suddenly upon a small American fort, when he leapt into it and made the garrison prisoners. Tucker accompanied the regiment from England as a volunteer; he evinced signal bravery on all occasions, and was rewarded, on the 10th of April, 1779, with a commission of cornet in the regiment: he proved an efficient officer.

In the winter, when the French fleet and land forces, after having been repulsed at Rhode Island and Savannah, withdrew from the American coast, General Sir Henry Clinton fitted out an expedition against South Carolina, where the mildness of the climate, the richness of the country, its vicinity to Georgia, and its distance from the position occupied by the American army under General Washington, pointed out the advantage and facility of conquest. A detachment of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, attached to Tarleton's legion, formed part of the force employed on this enterprise. The fleet sailed towards the end of December, but was dispersed by strong gales of wind, and the tempestuous weather occasioned the death of nearly all the horses. The transports in which the Seventeenth and Tarleton's legion were embarked, took refuge from the tempest in the harbour of Tybee, an island near the coast of Georgia, from whence the officers and soldiers proceeded in boats to the island of Port Royal, where a number of horses of an inferior description were procured.

The Seventeenth and Tarleton's legion were quartered at Beaufort, from whence they proceeded to join Brigadier-General Patterson, who was proceeding from Savannah, with a body of infantry, to reinforce the expedition under Sir Henry Clinton, who had undertaken the siege of Charlestown. The inhabitants of the country through which the detachment had to travel having heard of the loss of the cavalry horses at sea, many of them equipped themselves as cavaliers, to confine the British to the line of march, and prevent them collecting horses in the country. Some of these cavaliers insulted the front of the column, but were overthrown by a charge of the dragoons, and the Seventeenth took some prisoners and a number of horses, without any loss on their part; but in the neighbourhood of Rantol's bridge the Americans captured an officer and several foot soldiers.

After a march of twelve days through a country intersected with rivers, rendered difficult by heavy rains, and infested with enemies, the Seventeenth arrived on the banks of the Ashley-river with a large quantity of forage and some horses, which they had collected on the march: the cavalry of the detachment halted at Quarter House, but the infantry joined the army before Charlestown.

On the 12th of April, 1780, the men of the Seventeenth advanced, with other troops, to cut off the communications of the garrison of Charlestown with the adjacent country; they halted that night at Goosecreek, and on the evening of the following day they moved silently towards one of the enemy's posts of communication on Cooper's river,—several corps co-operating in the movement. At three o'clock on the following morning the advanced guard of dragoons and mounted infantry approached Monk's Corner, and charging and routing the enemy's guard on the main road, dashed forward into the American cavalry camp. The enemy was surprised, all who made resistance were speedily cut down; favoured by darkness, General Huger, Colonels Washington and Jamieson, and seven others, took refuge in some swampy grounds near the camp; and one hundred and fifty dragoons and hussars, four hundred horses, and fifty waggons loaded with arms, ammunition, and clothing, were captured. The enemy's infantry at Biggin's bridge were routed by a charge with the bayonet; the boats at Bonneau's ferry were also seized, and the American army in Charlestown was closely invested.

On the 6th of May Lieut.-Colonel Tarleton advanced at the head of a patrole of one hundred and fifty men of the Seventeenth and dragoons of the legion, to gain intelligence, when he was overtaken by a loyal American, who informed him that a strong body of the enemy's cavalry had taken a British foraging party, of an officer and seventeen mounted light infantry, prisoners, and was moving towards Lenew's ferry. Stimulated by this news, the patrole quickened its pace, and arrived at three in the afternoon in the presence of the enemy's videts. The Seventeenth instantly charged the American out-guard, which was routed, and pursued upon the main body; the enemy was surprised; five officers and thirty-six soldiers were cut down; seven officers and sixty dragoons were made prisoners, and Colonels White, Washington, and Jamieson, with some other officers and a few soldiers, escaped by swimming across the river, but many were drowned in the attempt.

The foraging party, captured by the Americans in the morning, was rescued as the ferry-boat was pushing off to convey the men across the river.

In this enterprise the British had only two men and four horses killed; the patrole joined the troops under Lieut.-General Earl Cornwallis on the same evening, but upwards of twenty horses died of fatigue.

Charlestown surrendered to the British arms on the 12th of May. Soon after this event the Seventeenth were attached to the troops under Lieut.-General Earl Cornwallis, and marched up the north-east bank of the Santee river in pursuit of a body of Americans under Colonel Burford, who was retreating to North Carolina. Lord Cornwallis halted at Georgetown, from whence forty of the Seventeenth, one hundred and thirty of Tarleton's legion, a hundred mounted infantry, and a three-pounder, followed the Americans by forced marches. After travelling one hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours, the detachment approached Wacsaw, on the confines of South Carolina, at three o'clock in the afternoon of the 29th of May, and the advance-guard, overtaking the enemy's rear, took a serjeant and four American light dragoons prisoners. Three hundred and eighty American infantry, a detachment of cavalry, and two six-pounders, formed for battle in an open wood; the British, though not half so numerous, (many men and the only gun with the detachment being unable to keep up,) moved forward in three columns to charge their opponents; the men of the Seventeenth being in the centre column under Captain Talbot. The Americans remained steady until the British were within ten yards, and then fired a volley, which produced little effect; and before the smoke cleared away, their ranks were broken, and the British were cutting them down with a terrible carnage. In a few minutes the conflict had ceased; one hundred Americans lay dead on the spot, two hundred were made prisoners, and three colours, two guns, and a number of waggons containing stores and baggage, were captured by the British, who had only five officers and soldiers killed, and twelve wounded; Lieutenant Matthew Pateshall, of the Seventeenth, being among the wounded.

Thus South Carolina was cleared of the enemy's troops, and, in a few days after this exploit, the detachment joined Earl Cornwallis at Camden, a town situate on the east side of the Wateree river.

In the mean time General Sir Henry Clinton had returned to New York, and had left orders for the Seventeenth to follow; the detachment, accordingly, embarked from South Carolina, leaving the sick and a few men attached to Tarleton's legion behind, and joined the regiment at New York, where it had remained under General Knyphausen.

The Americans made great efforts to regain possession of South Carolina; but their army of six thousand men, under General Gates, was routed at Camden by two thousand British, under Earl Cornwallis, on the 16th of August. The men of the Seventeenth attached to Tarleton's legion shared in the conflict. "The cavalry completed the route with their usual promptitude and gallantry, and after great exertions during the action, continued the pursuit to Hanginrock, twenty-two miles from the place where the action commenced, during which many of the enemy were slain, and many prisoners taken, with one hundred and fifty waggons, and all the baggage and camp equipage. On the morning of the 17th Colonel Tarleton was again despatched in pursuit, and on the 18th surprised seven hundred men, killing one hundred and fifty on the spot, and taking three hundred prisoners, three cannon, and forty-four waggons[3]."

During the winter reinforcements were sent from New York to South Carolina, including a detachment of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, which landed in December, and joined Earl Cornwallis's camp on the 6th of January, 1781.

The Seventeenth were afterwards attached to the troops under Colonel Tarleton, who was directed to force the Americans under General Morgan to pass the Broad river. The British overtook their opponents on the 17th of January, at a place called Cowpens; the Seventh Royal Fusiliers, the infantry of the legion, and a corps of light infantry, with a troop of cavalry on each flank, commenced the action, and soon forced the enemy to give way; but being too eager in the pursuit to preserve sufficient order, Morgan's corps faced about and gave them a heavy fire; this produced great confusion and serious loss, including two guns. The cavalry of the legion quitted the field, excepting about fourteen men, who joined forty of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, and, at the head of this little band of heroes, Colonel Tarleton made a desperate charge on the whole of the American cavalry, and drove them back on their infantry, recapturing his baggage, and cutting to pieces the detachment of the enemy which had taken possession of it. He afterwards retired to Hamilton's ford.

Cornet Thomas Patterson of the regiment was killed on this occasion[4], and Lieutenant Henry Nettles wounded; several private soldiers and troop horses were also killed and wounded.

When Earl Cornwallis advanced into North Carolina, the Seventeenth were left in South Carolina, under the command of Lord Rawdon, and had to perform duties which called forth the intelligence, activity, and bravery of the officers and soldiers. The occupation of posts distant from each other gave the light cavalry left in the province full employment in keeping up the communications. Many of the inhabitants were hostile to the royal cause; they performed their duties of allegiance with reluctance, and broke their engagements at the first opportunity: the troops of the Congress also made incursions into the province. These circumstances occasioned the duties of the detachment to be particularly harassing; the men and horses were exhausted by constant motion along bad roads, and reduced in numbers by continual skirmishes. While employed in these duties instances of individual gallantry and devotion to the interests of the service were numerous. On one occasion, when Private McMullins was carrying a despatch to the Commander-in-Chief, he was beset by four militia men; he shot one, disabled another with his sword, and brought the other two prisoners to head-quarters[5].

On another occasion a despatch of great importance had to be forwarded to Lord Rawdon, through a country infested by the enemy, and Corporal O'Lavery, of the Seventeenth, being a man of known courage and experience, was selected to accompany the bearer of the despatch. They had not proceeded far before they were attacked and both severely wounded. The bearer of the despatch died on the road; the corporal snatched the paper from the dying man, and rode on until he fell from loss of blood, when, to conceal the important secret from the Americans, should he fall into their hands, he thrust the paper into his wound. He was found, on the following day, with sufficient life to point to the fatal depository of the secret. The surgeon declared the wound itself not to be mortal, but rendered so by the insertion of the despatch. Corporal O'Lavery was a native of the county of Down, where a monument, the gratitude of his countryman and commander, Lord Rawdon, records his fame.

The services of the British troops in the Carolinas, are spoken of in the 'Annual Register' of 1781, in the following terms:—"It is impossible to do justice to the spirit, prudence, and invincible fortitude displayed by the commanders, officers, and soldiers during these dreadful campaigns in the Carolinas. They had not only to contend with men, and those by no means deficient in bravery or enterprise, but they encountered and surmounted difficulties and fatigues from climate and country that would appear insuperable in theory, and incredible in relation. During renewed successions of forced marches, under a burning sun, and in seasons inimical to man, they were frequently, when sinking under excessive fatigue, not only destitute of comforts, but even of necessaries that seemed essential to existence. During the greatest part of the time they were destitute of bread, and the country afforded no vegetables; salt failed; and their only resource was water and the cattle found in the woods. It is a melancholy consideration, that such talent, bravery, and military virtue should have been exercised in vain."

During the summer of this year an attack of the enemy on New York was apprehended, and General Sir Henry Clinton, in a letter to Lord Cornwallis, dated the 11th of June, 1781, requested that some of the troops, and, among others, the remaining officers and men of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, should be sent back to New York.

Lieut.-General George Preston was removed on the 18th of April, 1782, to the Scots Greys, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the Seventeenth by General the Honourable Thomas Gage, from the Twenty-second Foot.

His Majesty having been induced to concede the independence of the United States, the war was terminated by a treaty of peace, and in 1783 the Seventeenth Light Dragoons embarked from New York, and returned to Ireland, where the regiment was stationed during the succeeding eleven years.

In 1784 the colour of the clothing was changed from scarlet to blue.

On the 4th of February, 1785, General Gage was removed to the Eleventh Dragoons, and His Majesty conferred the colonelcy of the Seventeenth on Colonel Thomas, Earl of Lincoln, from the half-pay of the Seventy-fifth Foot, which corps was disbanded in 1783.

In February, 1794, the Earl of Lincoln succeeded, on the death of his father, to the dignity of Duke of Newcastle.

In the mean time the success of the French republicans, who had seized the reins of government and beheaded their sovereign, had been followed by the adoption of republican principles by many evil-disposed persons in Ireland, who attempted to organize a rebellion in that part of the United Kingdom; and the Seventeenth were employed, under Major-General Eustace, in suppressing the proceedings of a body of rebels called Defenders, in the counties of Dublin, Louth, and Meath. The regiment was employed many months, night and day, in this service. It was afterwards sent to the north of Ireland, and quartered at Lisburn, Carrickfergus, &c., in consequence of some opposition to authority made by the Belfast volunteers. Major-General White took the command of the troops at Belfast, and ordered the volunteers to give up their cannon; they refused, and barricaded the streets in one part of the town; but the Seventeenth Light Dragoons being sent for, entered Belfast in so dashing a manner that the volunteers were dismayed, and their commanding officer waited on General White, and represented that they did not understand the reason of the regiment entering the town in so rapid and hostile a manner, and that the volunteers would give up the cannon on condition of being sent back to their quarters, to which they proceeded on the same day.

Major-General His Grace the Duke of Newcastle died on the 17th of May, 1795, and King George III. conferred the vacant colonelcy on Major-General Oliver de Lancey, from the lieut.-colonelcy of the regiment.

The principles of republicanism which had involved France in anarchy and bloodshed, had also extended their devastating influence to the French West India islands, and the planters of St. Domingo had sought the protection of Great Britain against the fury of the mulattoes and negroes who, inflamed with republican zeal, carried massacre and devastation through the island. A large body of troops was assembled, under Major-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, to complete the deliverance of the French West India Islands from the power of the republicans, and to reduce to obedience the insurgents in the island of St. Vincent and Grenada, which formerly belonged to France, but had been ceded to Great Britain by treaty. Four troops of the Seventeenth embarked at Cork for England in August, 1795, leaving the head-quarters in Ireland; they landed at Portsmouth, and joined the cavalry camp at Nestley, under Lord Cathcart, and on the 21st of September embarked for St. Domingo. The departure of the fleet of several hundred vessels, escorted by a splendid division of the royal navy, under Admiral Christian, was a scene calculated to impress the mind with an idea of British power; but a storm ensued which scattered the fleet, when many vessels were lost, and others returned to Spithead. The Seventeenth arrived at the West Indies in safety, and two troops were, for a short time, employed as marines on board the Hermione frigate, commanded by Captain Pigot, who was afterwards murdered by his crew. The two troops were eventually landed at Martinico.

One squadron of the regiment proceeded to Jamaica, and was employed, towards the end of 1795 and in the beginning of 1796, against the native Maroons, who had been joined by a number of runaway slaves, and were engaged in open hostility against the British authority. The Maroon warriors were expert bush-fighters, and the service against them proved destructive and severe; they boldly engaging the troops on more than twenty different occasions.

Thirty men of the Seventeenth, with ten of another regiment, were stationed, under the command of a subaltern officer, to intercept a body of Maroons and negroes; but the latter had so perfect a knowledge of the country that they came upon the military by surprise. The officer being wounded, retired to a safe post, where he delivered the charge of the party over to Serjeant Stephenson of the Seventeenth. The Serjeant then addressed his men in the most animating language, and leading them to the charge in a most spirited manner, at a moment when the Maroon warriors did not expect an attack, he routed the rebels and killed and wounded several of them[6].

On another occasion, when the troops were out in quest of the Maroon bands, the dragoons came suddenly upon a number of warriors deliberating in council in one of their recesses called the Cock-pit, when Lieutenant Oswald Werge leaped in among them at the hazard of his life, saying, "I bring you peace;" fortunately they did not fire at him, but received him in a friendly manner, and the consequence was, that a treaty was entered into with them; a number of the warriors surrendered in January, 1796, and in March the Maroon war terminated by the surrender of the other warriors, who were afterwards removed from the island.

Five troops, with the head-quarters of the regiment, embarked from Ireland for St. Domingo on the 25th of February, 1796.

One squadron had, in the mean time, been selected to form part of the force to be employed in reducing to obedience the insurgents in the island of Grenada, whose atrocious conduct had procured them the designation of brigands. Having landed on the south of Port Royal, the troops, under Brigadier-General Nicolls, advanced, on the 25th of March, to attack the enemy, who occupied a strong position on a hill of steep ascent. During the action two vessels arrived from Guadaloupe with reinforcements for the enemy, and were landing men on the beach, when the Seventeenth were ordered to interpose between them and the fort. Passing swiftly along a lane strewed with killed and wounded, exposed to the fire of both parties, the Seventeenth reached the beach, and instantly charging, put every enemy to the sword that had landed; no quarter being given. When this service was completed, the cannonading was so hot on both sides, that the squadron could not return without being destroyed, and it took post under the cover of a hill. The infantry having gained the crest of the enemy's position and carried the redoubt by storm, the republican troops fled in dismay,—some throwing themselves down precipices, and others escaping through the thick underwood; when they arrived at the low grounds, the Seventeenth under Captain John Black, and St. George's troop of light cavalry, darted upon them and slew three hundred men in the space of a few hundred yards[7]. The Seventeenth were commended in orders for their distinguished conduct; their loss was limited to one horse killed, four men and two horses wounded.

The Seventeenth took part in several other operations and skirmishes; in June the Commandant of the French troops at Goyave surrendered, and a number of brigands retired, under a desperate and atrocious character named Fedon, to their strong hold in the mountains, where they were invested and forced to submit. In addition to Captain Black, Captain Johnson, Lieutenant Werge, and Cornet Brown of the regiment were also engaged at Grenada.

Four troops of the Seventeenth were sent to St. Domingo, where they served against the republican troops, and signalized themselves at Fort Raimond, Irois, and Morne Gautier; but the climate of this island proved so injurious to the health of the British soldiers that it was eventually abandoned.

After losing many officers and soldiers in the West Indies, the regiment embarked for England, where it arrived in August, 1797; the head-quarter ship, the Caledonia, foundered at sea; the men were saved by boats, and taken on board the Britannia, of Bristol; but the baggage and regimental books were lost. On its arrival in England the regiment received about four hundred recruits, also a large draft from the Eighteenth Light Dragoons, and it was soon restored to a state of efficiency.

In 1798 a Serjeant's party of the Seventeenth was attached to the expedition under Major-General Eyre Coote, which sailed from Margate, on the 14th of May, for the purpose of destroying the basin, gates, and sluices of the Bruges canal, to interrupt the communication between Ostend and Holland. A landing was effected on the 19th of May, and the works were destroyed; but while this was taking place, the wind and surf became so high that the troops could not re-embark, and they were attacked by superior numbers, and forced to surrender. The detachment of the Seventeenth was among the troops made prisoners, and it was sent to Lisle; it was afterwards exchanged, and on rejoining the regiment in the spring of 1799, such had been its exemplary conduct, that the Serjeant, (William Brown,) was promoted to a cornetcy in the Waggon Train, from which he was transferred to the regiment, and eventually became a captain in the corps; and the private soldiers were appointed non-commissioned officers.

Two squadrons were ordered to Portsmouth to embark for Egypt, but the order was countermanded, and they rejoined the head-quarters at Swinley, near Windsor, where the regiment was encamped during the summer.

This year a second Lieut.-Colonel was added to the establishment, which was augmented to ten troops.

After encamping on Bagshot heath, in the summer of 1800, the regiment was employed in suppressing riots, occasioned by the high price of provision, and it exhibited much forbearance under many aggravated assaults from the populace, especially at Duffield, where many soldiers were hurt, and several men of the regiment were afterwards invalided in consequence of the injuries received on this and other occasions: Captain Werge received a shot through his helmet.

At a general muster at Manchester, in 1801, the regiment had upwards of a thousand non-commissioned officers and soldiers on parade, and nearly a thousand horses: but at the peace of Amiens, in 1802, the establishment was reduced to eight troops. The horses of one of the reduced troops were valued, by a dealer, at an average of forty guineas each.

Having embarked for Ireland in May, 1803, the regiment experienced much severe weather on the passage; it landed at Dublin, and war with France having been resumed, two troops were added to the establishment.

Four troops joined the force encamped, under Lord Cathcart, on the Curragh of Kildare, in August, 1804.

In the winter of 1805 the regiment embarked for England, in the expectation of engaging in active warfare on the Continent; but the results of the victory gained by Buonaparte over the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz, occasioned the order to proceed on foreign service to be countermanded.

On landing in England the head-quarters proceeded to Northampton, where the regiment was inspected by Major-General Sir Henry Warde, who informed the commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd, that he had been sent to examine the regiment in consequence of it being supposed to be unfit for service; but that he should report it composed of the finest men, the best horses, and equipped with the best appointments of any corps he had inspected.

In April, 1806, the Seventeenth marched to the vicinity of London, and were reviewed on Wimbledon common by their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and Duke of York. The Prince of Wales most graciously shook hands with Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd, and wished him joy on so fine a corps, as did also several other general officers present on that occasion, and the Duke of York expressed his gratification in very strong terms, at witnessing the appearance of the corps and its correct manœuvring.

In September the regiment was suddenly ordered to prepare for foreign service; two troops were separated to form a depôt; and eight troops, having given up their horses, sailed from Spithead, on the 5th of October, for South America, to engage in hostilities against the Spanish provinces in that part of the world. Entering the splendid and capacious harbour of Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, information was received of the re-capture of Buenos Ayres by the Spaniards; but arrangements, were, nevertheless, made for carrying on the war in the Spanish dominions in South America, and the Seventeenth, having only short carbines, were ordered to be armed with Spanish muskets, and to serve as infantry. Leaving Rio de Janeiro, the fleet sailed to the Rio de la Plata; two hundred miles up this immense river stands the city of Buenos Ayres, where the stream is about thirty miles broad; but an attack on this place was deferred, and the commander of the expedition, Brigadier-General Samuel Auchmuty, resolved to proceed against Monte Video, a town situate in a small bay on the north side of the river, one hundred and twenty miles from Buenos Ayres.

In the middle of January, 1807, a landing was effected nine miles from Monte Video, and the army advanced towards that fortress, when the column, composed of the Seventeenth, four troops of the Twentieth, and two of the Twenty-first Light Dragoons, was attacked by the enemy. Some sharp fighting occurred; Brigadier-General Auchmuty's charger was killed, and he mounted one of Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd's horses; his orderly trumpeter, Thomas Hudson, had also his horse killed under him; but eventually the British dragoons drove back their opponents, and took up the first position before the fortress, about two miles from the citadel. On the 20th of January a numerous body of men sallied from the town, but were driven back, and on the 22nd a number of the enemy approached the rear of the British line, when a skirmish ensued, in which the Seventeenth had two men killed and three wounded. During the siege the Seventeenth were employed in covering the troops before the town and in bringing up provisions, in the performance of which service they took many prisoners, and Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd received the personal thanks of Brigadier-Generals Auchmuty and Lumley. The town was taken by storm on the 3rd of February; on this occasion the Seventeenth formed part of the division under Brigadier-General Lumley, in readiness to cover and support the attack, and to protect the rear; on the capture of the town the citadel surrendered.

Abundance of horses being found in the country, the regiment was mounted; but great difficulty was experienced in procuring forage. Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd proceeded above twenty miles up the country, with four troops of the Seventeenth, and two squadrons of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Light Dragoons, and occupied the out-posts of Canelon and St. Joseph, the latter situate on the bank of a river of the same name. In the early part of March Captain Ross's troop was sent to Las Penais, and Captain Supple's to Cosa Negro barracks; and on the 1st of May the regiment had two hundred and twenty-four mounted and three hundred and seventy-one dismounted men in cantonments in and about Monte Video.

The arrival of Lieut.-General Whitelocke with additional troops, and afterwards of Brigadier-General Craufurd with a further reinforcement, was followed by an attack on the city of Buenos Ayres. Embarking from Monte Video, the troops sailed nearly a hundred miles further up the river, and then landed on the right bank, about thirty miles from the city. Four dismounted troops of the Seventeenth were left, with a regiment of foot, to escort the artillery from the place of disembarkation; and the four mounted troops, mustering forty men each, under Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd, were employed as follows:—Two troops were ordered to give up their horses to the commissariat, but on putting on the pack-saddles the horses broke loose, and were of little use: thirty mounted men remained under Captain Lloyd, to superintend the landing of provision,—of these, ten were sent forward after the army with despatches, twelve mounted men were attached to one of the infantry brigades, and the remainder accompanied Lieut.-General Whitelocke. Thus this small mounted cavalry force was so employed, that it was not available for the more important services of the expedition.

Advancing through a difficult country, the army arrived at the suburbs of Buenos Ayres, and, on the morning of the 5th of July, penetrated the streets of the town; a number of the enemy collected in the rear of the army was dispersed by sixteen mounted men of the Seventeenth and thirty dismounted men of the Ninth Light Dragoons, under Lieut.-Colonel Torrens and Captain Whittingham. While advancing along the streets of this populous city, the British infantry were attacked by the whole male population, who crowded the windows and tops of the flat-roofed houses, and assailed the British with musketry, hand-grenades, bricks, and large stones. Fiercely braving this tempest of war, the English soldiers pressed forward; in some places they were victorious, in others they were overpowered and forced to surrender; and in the midst of this scene of carnage and confusion, sixteen men of the Seventeenth and fifty infantry soldiers, led by Captain Whittingham, opened a communication with Brigadier-General Auchmuty's brigade. Ten mounted men of the Seventeenth and some infantry, also communicated with Colonel Mahon's brigade left at the village of Reduction: but hostilities were terminated by a treaty, in which Lieut.-General Whitelocke agreed to surrender the posts he had taken, also Monte Video, and withdraw from the country, for which he was brought to trial and cashiered.

The Seventeenth left South America in November; they put into Cork harbour from stress of weather, and were mustered there on the 24th of December; but leaving that port in January, 1808, they sailed to Portsmouth, and, after disembarking, joined the depôt troops at Chichester. At this place they remained six weeks dismounted, under orders for the East Indies; furloughs were given to the men to the 20th of February, and such was the excellent spirit which prevailed, that at the expiration of the term there was only one absentee,—a man detained by sickness.

On the 29th of February the regiment left Chichester; on arriving at this place the men had large balances to receive; on quitting, they were thanked by the mayor and corporation, who stated that they had spent three thousand pounds in the town in six weeks, without a single dragoon misbehaving himself.

Eight hundred non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the regiment embarked from Portsmouth under Major Cotton, (Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd being detained as an evidence on the trial of Lieut.-General Whitelocke,) and arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on the 1st of June. On the 4th they were inspected by the Commander-in-Chief at the Cape, Major-General the Honourable Henry George Grey, who had formerly commanded the regiment, and was then a Lieut.-Colonel on its establishment; he expressed himself highly pleased with their appearance; and they fired a feu de joie in honour of the birth-day of King George III.

A remarkable circumstance, connected with the movements of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons is shown by the following statement, viz:—the celebration of the birth-day of His Majesty by the regiment in the four different quarters of the world in four successive years; viz., in 1806 in Europe, in England; in 1807 in America, at Monte Video; in 1808 in Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope; and in 1809 in Asia, at Surat, in the East Indies.

From the Cape of Good Hope the regiment sailed for Calcutta. On approaching the Ganges a fire broke out in one of the ships, the Hugh Inglis, through the carelessness of a petty officer; the magazine was instantly inundated, and the engines from the other ships assisting, the fire was extinguished without serious damage. On the following day the three top-masts were carried over the side of the ship by a squall, and with them fourteen or fifteen men; but the wind speedily subsiding, and the boats of the fleet rendering assistance, all the men were saved except one. On arriving at Diamond Harbour, the regiment was removed on board of small vessels, and it landed at Calcutta on the 25th of August,—mustering seven hundred and ninety men.

The regiment performed garrison duty at Fort William from August to December, during which time Major Cotton, the regimental quarter-master, and sixty-two non-commissioned officers and soldiers died.

Having been placed on the Bombay establishment, the regiment embarked from Calcutta under Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd, and arrived at Bombay on the 1st of February, 1809. It was destined to occupy quarters in the province of Guzerat,—a peninsula formed by the Arabian sea and the gulfs of Cambay and Cutch, and proceeding to Surat,—a city situate on a fertile plain, on the left bank of the Tappi river,—it was there mounted on horses of a superior description, furnished by an eminent native dealer, named Soonderjie, for 450 and 500 rupees each.