The Thirteenth regiment remained in Egypt until the 13th of January, 1802, when it embarked from Alexandria for the island of Malta, where it arrived on the 2nd of March.

The regiment was stationed at Malta twelve months, during which time a treaty of peace was concluded at Amiens, on the 25th March, 1802, in which the British government agreed to give up Malta; but the conduct of Buonaparte, then First Consul of France, was marked by so many acts of aggression, that the government considered itself justified in refusing to deliver up the island.

In March, 1803, when hostilities were on the eve of re-commencing, the regiment embarked for Gibraltar, to relieve the second battalion of the royal regiment of foot from garrison duty at that fortress.

On the decease of General Ainslie, in 1804, King George III., conferred the colonelcy of the Thirteenth foot on Lieut.-General Sir Alexander Campbell, (who had commanded the seventh West India regiment which was disbanded in 1802,) by commission dated the 11th of July, 1804.

While the regiment was stationed at Gibraltar, a fever of a very fatal character broke out in the town and garrison, and during the months of September, October, and November, the regiment lost four officers, and one hundred and twenty-six non-commissioned officers and private soldiers.

In the autumn of the following year, the regiment was relieved from garrison duty at Gibraltar, and it landed on the 1st of January, 1806, at Portsmouth, from whence it proceeded to Winchester and Weymouth.

The court of Spain had again united with Napoleon Buonaparte in hostilities against Great Britain, and in August the regiment returned to Portsmouth for the purpose of forming part of an expedition against the Spanish possessions in South America; but the order for the embarkation of the regiment was countermanded, and it marched to Dover, and afterwards to Deal barracks.

The regiment left Deal on the 4th of May, 1807, for Ramsgate, where it embarked for Ireland; and landing at Monkstown on the 23rd of May, marched from thence to Middleton barracks and afterwards to Cahir.

In the autumn, the regiment was completed to its establishment by volunteers from the militia, and embarking at Monkstown for England, landed at Portsmouth on the 2nd of December.

On the 26th of January, 1808, the regiment embarked for the West Indies, and on its arrival it was appointed to the garrison of Bermuda, where it landed on the 26th of March.

The West India islands belonging to France, which had been restored to that country at the peace of Amiens in 1802, had not been recaptured at the re-commencement of hostilities in 1803; but in 1808 an expedition was assembled at Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, for the reduction of the French island of Martinique; the land forces were under Lieut.-General George Beckwith, and the navy was commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, K.B. The Thirteenth foot embarked from Bermuda on the 23rd of November to join the expedition, and remained at Barbadoes until the armament was ready for the enterprise.

The fleet left Carlisle Bay on the 28th of January, 1809, and arrived off the island of Martinique in two days. On the 30th, the troops landed in two divisions; the first division at Bay Robert, under Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost; and the second division, commanded by Major-General Maitland, near St. Luce and Point Solomon. Both divisions were actively engaged in operations for the reduction of the island. After a night march of seven miles through a difficult country, the first division occupied a position on the Great Lizard River; and on the 1st of February it engaged the enemy on Morne Brune and the heights of Surirey, which were warmly contested; but British valour was triumphant. In eight days from the time the fleet quitted Barbadoes, Fort Desaix (or Fort Bourbon) was invested, ‘notwithstanding heavy rains, and most unfavourable weather, in which the troops have borne every species of privation in a manner worthy the character of British soldiers.’[10] The siege of the fort was prosecuted with vigour; and on the 24th February, the French governor, General Villaret, surrendered, the French twenty-sixth and eighty-second regiments becoming prisoners, and delivering up their arms and Eagles to the British troops. The conduct of the regiment, at the capture of this valuable island, was afterwards rewarded with the royal authority to bear on its colours the word “Martinique,” to commemorate its services on this occasion.

The Thirteenth were stationed at Martinique, where they received two hundred and fifty volunteers from the English militia, in October, 1809.

A strong detachment of the regiment embarked from Martinique on the 21st of January, 1810, and sailed to Prince Rupert’s, Dominica, where it joined the expedition against Guadaloupe, under the orders of Lieut.-General Beckwith: the detachment of the Thirteenth, sixty-third (600 rank and file), York light infantry volunteers, and fourth West India regiment, formed the fourth brigade under Brigadier-General Skinner, in the first division, commanded by Major-General Hislop. This division sailed from Dominica on the 26th of January, landed at St. Mary’s, in Capesterre, on the 28th, and took an active part in the operations by which the French troops in the island of Guadaloupe were forced to surrender on the 6th of February. The loss of the Thirteenth foot, in this service, was limited to one man killed and five wounded; and immediately after the capture of the island, the detachment rejoined the regiment at Martinique.

During the years 1811 and 1812, the Thirteenth were stationed at the island of Martinique.

On the 15th of February, 1813, General Campbell was removed to the thirty-second regiment, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the Thirteenth by Lieut.-General Edward Morrison, from Colonel-Commandant in the sixtieth foot.

In the meantime, the measures adopted by the English government, to counteract the tyrannical decrees of Napoleon, designed for the destruction of the commerce of Great Britain, had involved England in war with the United States of America, and the frontiers of Canada had become the theatre of conflict, to which the Thirteenth foot were directed to repair. The regiment accordingly embarked from Fort Royal, Martinique, on the 2nd of May, 1813, arrived on the 28th of June at Quebec, and proceeded from thence in steam-boats and bateaux to Montreal.

At this period, a numerous American force had penetrated Upper Canada; and a small expedition was fitted out on Lake Champlain, with the view of calling the attention of the Americans to the defence of their own settlements on the borders of that sheet of water. To engage in this service, nine officers and one hundred and eighty-one soldiers of the Thirteenth foot crossed the river St. Lawrence in boats, on the 24th and 25th of July, and proceeded to the Isle aux Noix, where an expedition was assembled under Lieut.-Colonel J. Murray; Lieut.-Colonel William Williams, of the Thirteenth, being second in command. Sailing from the Isle aux Noix in boats, the expedition navigated the lake, and as it approached the enemy’s post at Plattsburg, the American militia abandoned the place. The British landed, destroyed the arsenal, block-house, commissary’s buildings and stores, with the barracks at Saranac, capable of containing four thousand men. The flotilla afterwards returned to Isle aux Noix. In concluding his public despatch, Lieut.-Colonel Murray expressed his sense of the conduct of Lieut.-Colonel Williams, of the Thirteenth foot, in terms of commendation; and added, ‘I have to report in the highest terms of approbation, the discipline, regularity, and cheerful conduct of the whole of the troops; and feel fully confident, that, had an opportunity offered, their courage would have been equally conspicuous.’

Active operations were continued during the winter, when the weather permitted; and in the spring of 1814, Lieut.-Colonel Williams, of the Thirteenth foot, had charge of the advance-posts on the river Richelieu.

The American commander, Major-General Wilkinson, concentrated a considerable force for the invasion of Lower Canada; the Thirteenth and forty-ninth regiments, the Canadian voltigeurs, a troop of the nineteenth light dragoons, and a field train, were assembled at St. John’s, and its vicinity, to oppose the invaders. This force was placed under the orders of Colonel Sir Sidney Beckwith, and it was ordered to dislodge a body of Americans, who had taken post at Philipsburg, in the seigniory of St. Armand; but the enemy made a precipitate retreat across the ice on Lake Champlain.

On the 30th of March, the American light troops entered Odell-town, followed by three brigades of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and eleven guns; they drove in the British piquets, and attached the post at Burton Ville; but were so well received by the troops stationed there, that they soon desisted in the attempt on that post. Their leading brigades afterwards attacked the mill and block-house on the La Cole river, where a detachment of the Thirteenth foot and a party of Canadians were stationed, under Major Handcock, of the Thirteenth. The Americans drove in the piquet, gained possession of a wood, established a battery among the trees, and opened a sharp fire upon the post, which was gallantly defended. Major Handcock having ascertained that the flank companies of the Thirteenth had arrived at the mill, directed an effort to be made to capture the American artillery, when Captain Ellard led his company to the charge with distinguished bravery, and a spirited attempt was made on the battery; but the wood was found crowded with American infantry. Captain Ellard was severely wounded, and the few men who had made the sally, finding themselves opposed by several entire regiments of the enemy, withdrew from the unequal contest. The Americans persevering in the attack, a second attempt was made to capture their guns, but their brigades were too numerous to admit of a chance of success. The post was, however, successfully defended; every attempt of the Americans to capture it was repelled, and they retired, after sustaining considerable loss.

Major Handcock, and the officers and soldiers who had so nobly defended this post, were thanked for their conduct, by the commander of the forces, Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost. The regiment had thirteen rank and file killed; Captain Ellard, Ensign Whitford, two serjeants, and forty-six rank and file wounded.

In April the war with France was terminated, and Napoleon Buonaparte was removed from the throne of that kingdom; but the contest in America was continued, and the Thirteenth regiment was employed on the frontiers of Lower Canada, but it had no opportunity of distinguishing itself.

Peace was concluded with the United States in 1815, when the regiment received orders to return to England: it embarked from the Isle aux Noix in bateaux, was removed into smaller boats at William Henry, on the river St. Lawrence, and embarking in transports at the Three Rivers, arrived at Portsmouth on the 15th of July, when it landed, and was employed in garrison duty at that fortress. The period of its arrival from America, did not, therefore, afford an opportunity of the services of the regiment being available on the occasion of the return of Buonaparte to France, his overthrow at Waterloo, nor on the restoration of Louis XVIII.

The regiment remained at Portsmouth until August, when it embarked for the island of Jersey, where it was stationed upwards of two years; and its orderly conduct, on all occasions, procured for it the respect and esteem of the inhabitants and civil authorities of the island.

In January, 1816, an order was received for the reduction of the regiment to ten companies, of sixty rank and file each.

On the 24th of May, 1817, new colours were presented to the regiment, on the parade in Fort Regent-square, Jersey. The colours bore on them the “Sphinx,” with the words “Egypt” and “Martinique,” and were consecrated by the Rev. George Lawrence, garrison chaplain, who delivered a very learned and suitable address to the regiment on the occasion.

In June of the same year, the establishment was augmented to nine hundred and seven officers and soldiers.

The regiment embarked from Jersey in August, and proceeded to the islands of Guernsey and Alderney. Its conduct, while at Jersey, had excited the admiration of the inhabitants and civil authorities of the island; and on its departure, a numerous public meeting of the inhabitants and functionaries of the parish of Saint Heliers, expressed the high sense they entertained of the distinguished merits of the corps, which was communicated to the commanding officer, Colonel Sir William Williams, by the principal constable of St. Helier. The states of the island also passed an act, setting forth their estimation of the discipline and orderly behaviour of the regiment;[11] which was communicated to the commanding officer, by his Excellency Major-General H. M. Gordon. In acknowledging the receipt of the act of the states, Colonel Sir William Williams observed, ‘To possess the good wishes of those with whom a soldier resides must ever be the most pleasing reflection, but particularly where, in the performance of his duty, approval emanates from so high and so respectable an assembly as the states of Jersey; it thence becomes a source of the most heart-felt and lasting gratification, and will be recorded, and handed down, as one of their dearest memorials. In communicating the contents to the officers of the Thirteenth regiment, I am to request you may accept their thanks; they being actuated with the most fervent wishes for the prosperity of the island.’

The regiment remained at the islands of Guernsey and Alderney during the two following years. In October, 1818, the establishment was reduced to seven hundred and forty-six officers and soldiers. In May and June, 1819, the regiment embarked by detachments for Portsmouth.

On quitting Guernsey, the following letter was received, dated 4th May, 1819:—

In acknowledging the receipt of this letter, Lieut.-Colonel R. B. Hancock, stated,—‘It will, no doubt, be extremely gratifying to Sir William Williams, as it is to all ranks of the regiment now here, to find that their conduct has been thought deserving of so great an honour. Penetrated by the repeated proofs of esteem and affection, which they have received from the inhabitants of Guernsey, the officers request me to offer their sincere wishes for the general prosperity of the island, and for the individual happiness and welfare of those friends to whose polite and marked attention they are so deeply indebted.’

In September the regiment embarked for Scotland, and landing at Leith, proceeded from thence to Stirling castle, with detachments to Dumbarton castle, Paisley, Callender, and Buchlivie.

The regiment marched to Edinburgh castle in September, 1820: towards the end of October it proceeded to Port Patrick, where it embarked for Ireland, landing at Donaghadee, marched from thence to Dublin, with detachments to Stranorlane, Carndonagh, Greencastle, Buncrana, Rethinilton, and Letterkenny.

After occupying these stations ten months, the regiment called in its detachments, and marched to Richmond barracks, Dublin, where it arrived on the 21st of September, 1821.

From Dublin the regiment embarked, on the 18th of July, 1822, for England, and two days after landing at Liverpool, orders were received from the Horse Guards for the regiment to embark for Greenock, proceed from thence to Edinburgh, and do duty there during the visit of His Majesty King George IV. to that city.

The regiment arrived at Edinburgh on the 31st of July and 1st of August: it had the honour of mounting guard over the royal person, when the King visited that city, and Captain Ellard, who commanded the guard of honor assembled to receive His Majesty on landing, obtained the brevet rank of major.

After His Majesty’s departure, the regiment embarked for Chatham, where it arrived on the 21st, 23rd, and 24th of September.

The regiment having been selected to proceed to India, made preparations for transferring its services to that part of the British dominions. Previous to embarking, it was constituted a corps of Light Infantry, to take date as such from the 25th of December, 1822; and the usual augmentation was made to its numbers.