Richard Cannon

“ The valour of the British soldiers in North America excited the admiration of their sovereign and country; yet, the circumstances in which they were placed rendered it impossible for their prowess to be exercised with the prospect of ultimate success. The great superiority of the numbers of the enemy more than counter-balanced the advantages of superior skill and discipline, and the troops in Boston remained in a state of blockade; live cattle, vegetables, and even fuel, were sent for their use from England ”

“ Great Britain has produced a race of lion-like champions who have dared to confront a host of foes, and have proved themselves valiant with any arms. At Creçy, King Edward III., at the head of about 30,000 men, defeated, on the 26th of August, 1346, Philip King of France, whose army is said to have amounted to 100,000 men; here British valour encountered veterans of renown:—the King of Bohemia, the King of Majorca, and many princes and nobles were slain, and the French army was routed and cut to pieces. ”

“ In the wars of Queen Anne, the fame of the British army under the great Marlborough was spread throughout the world; and if we glance at the achievements performed within the memory of persons now living, there is abundant proof that the Britons of the present age are not inferior to their ancestors in the qualities [xvii] which constitute good soldiers. Witness the deeds of the brave men, of whom there are many now surviving, who fought in Egypt in 1801, under the brave Abercromby, and compelled the French army, which had been vainly styled Invincible, to evacuate that country ”

“ THE INFANTRY. The natives of Britain have, at all periods, been celebrated for innate courage and unshaken firmness, and the national superiority of the British troops over those of other countries has been evinced in the midst of the most imminent perils. History contains so many proofs of extraordinary acts of bravery, that no doubts can be raised upon the facts which are recorded. ”

“ The introduction of the use of gunpowder in the destructive purposes of war, in the early part of the fourteenth century, produced a change in the arms and equipment of the infantry-soldier. Bows and arrows gave place to various kinds of fire-arms, but British archers continued formidable adversaries; and owing to the inconvenient construction and imperfect bore of the fire-arms when first introduced, a body of men, well trained in the use of the bow from their youth, was considered a valuable acquisition to every army, even as late as the sixteenth century. ”

“ A very spirited resistance was made by the enemy, and, eventually, the Tenth were led up the contested height to join in the attack. Firmly and steadily the soldiers of the Tenth moved up the steep ascent, which was strewed with killed and wounded; arriving within range of the enemy's fire, an iron tempest smote the ranks, and the firm order of the regiment was shaken: a short pause ensued. At that moment the British cavalry approached to support the infantry, and the Germans under the Margrave of Baden arrived to prolong the attack and assail the enemy in the rear. ”

“ England declared war against France: additional troops arrived in Holland, and the Earl of Marlborough assumed the command. The Tenth were engaged in the movements by which the French were driven from their menacing position near the confines of Holland. The regiment also formed part of the covering army during the siege of Venloo,—a fortress on the east side of the river Maese, which surrendered on the 25th of September. The regiment was next engaged in covering the sieges of Ruremonde and Stevenswart, both of which places were captured in the early part of October. ”

“ The wings of the allied army gained upon the enemy, and the circling blaze of musketry enveloped the French troops, whose destruction appeared inevitable, but the darkness of the night soon rendered it impossible to distinguish friends from foes, and the Duke of Marlborough ordered his soldiers to cease firing, and to halt. The darkness favoured the escape of the enemy, and the wreck of the French army retreated in disorder towards Ghent. ”

“ In the beginning of June, General Sir John Stuart, Count of Maida, commanding the British troops in Sicily, embarked fifteen thousand men for the south of Italy, and for the capture of Naples, as a diversion in favour of the Austrians, who were once more at war with France. The Tenth regiment embarked on this enterprise, leaving two companies in garrison at Melazzo.
The first attack made by the main body of the expedition was on Ischia, a small island in the gulf of Naples, situate about six miles from the coast. ”

“ The Sikhs fought with the energy of desperation, and, even when some of their entrenchments were mastered with the bayonet, endeavoured to recover with the sword the positions they had lost. It was not until the weight of all three divisions of infantry, in addition to several regiments of cavalry, with the fire of every piece of field-artillery that could be sent to their aid, had been felt, that the enemy gave way. The Sikh regiments retreated at first in tolerable order, but the [71] incessant volleys of the British soon caused them to take to a rapid and discomfited flight. ”

“ The regiment was stationed in Ireland during the whole of the seven years' war, but when the disputes between Great Britain and her North American colonies began to assume a serious aspect, the Tenth was one of the first corps ordered to proceed across the Atlantic. The regiment embarked from Ireland in the spring of 1767, and after a short stay in Nova Scotia, it was ordered to Boston, where, in 1768, the conduct of the populace assumed so violent a character as to render the presence of a military force necessary. ”

“ The arms and equipment of the British troops have seldom differed materially, since the Conquest, from those of other European states; and in some respects the arming has, at certain periods, been allowed to be inferior to that of the nations with whom they have had to contend; yet, under this disadvantage, the bravery and superiority of the British infantry have been evinced on very many and most trying occasions, and splendid victories have been gained over very superior numbers. ”

“ These have all been surmounted by the conduct of the troops themselves: and the enemy has been taught, that whatever advantages of position or of numbers he may possess, there is inherent in the British officers and soldiers a bravery that knows not how to yield,—that no circumstances can appal,—and that will ensure victory, when it is to be obtained by the exertion of any human means. ”

“ The American army took up a position at Brandywine Creek, to oppose the advance of the British on Philadelphia, and on the 11th of September the enemy's posts were attacked; the Tenth forming part of the force selected to attack the American troops posted at Chad's Ford. After a sharp cannonade, the troops rushed through the stream with fixed bayonets, the fourth foot taking the lead, and, overpowering all resistance, captured three brass field-pieces and a howitzer. The Americans were routed at all points, and they made a precipitate retreat. ”

“ The feudal troops established by William the Conqueror consisted (as already stated in the Introduction to the Cavalry) almost entirely of horse; but when the warlike barons and knights, with their trains of tenants and vassals, took the field, a proportion of men appeared on foot, and, although these were of inferior degree, they proved stout-hearted Britons of stanch fidelity. When stipendiary troops were employed, infantry always constituted a considerable portion of the military force ”

“ In Great Britain, where so large a number of persons are devoted to the active concerns of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and where these pursuits have, for so [v] long a period, been undisturbed by the presence of war, which few other countries have escaped, comparatively little is known of the vicissitudes of active service, and of the casualties of climate, to which, even during peace, the British Troops are exposed in every part of the globe, with little or no interval of repose. ”

“ The policy pursued by the British government towards the North American provinces alienated the affections of the people from the mother-country, and the idea of these extensive colonies becoming a great and independent empire, having gained possession of many minds, the Americans became impatient of their condition. ”

“ During a great part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth each company of infantry usually consisted of men armed five different ways; in every hundred men forty were "men-at-arms," and sixty "shot;" the "men-at-arms" were ten halberdiers, or battle-axe men, and thirty pikemen; and the "shot" were twenty archers, twenty musketeers, and twenty harquebusiers, and each man carried, besides his principal weapon, a sword and dagger. ”

“ To repel the invaders, the Tenth regiment embarked for England in the middle of March, 1708, and arrived at Tynemouth on the 21st; but the French squadron, with the Pretender on board, was chased from the British coast by the English fleet, and the Tenth were ordered to Flanders: they landed at Ostend, and proceeded in boats to Ghent, where they arrived towards the end of April. ”

“ The soldiers engaged in these services frequently encountered parties of the enemy, and numerous combats occurred in these gloomy labyrinths. On some occasions the men at work underground were inundated with water; on another occasion three hundred men were suffocated with smoke, and a hundred men were buried by the explosion of a mine. A detachment of the eighteenth foot was blown into the air, and their limbs scattered to a distance; and a battalion of Germans was destroyed by another mine; the Tenth foot also lost a number of men in the mines. ”

“ In the early part of the seventeenth century Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, reduced the strength of regiments to 1000 men; he caused the gunpowder, which had heretofore been carried in flasks, or in small wooden bandoliers, each containing a charge, to be made up into cartridges, and carried in pouches; and he formed each regiment into two wings of musketeers, and a centre division of pikemen. He also adopted the practice of forming four regiments into a brigade; and the number of colours was afterwards reduced to three in each regiment. ”

“ The difficulty of the ascent, the heat of the weather, and the enemy's superior numbers and incessant fire, combined to render this enterprise particularly arduous; twice the King's troops appeared to stagger; but recovering, they rushed forward with renewed ardour, and drove the Americans out of the works at the point of the bayonet; thus proving their [39] superior bravery and discipline, by gaining a complete victory over an enemy three times as numerous as themselves and protected by entrenchments. ”

“ The battle of Vittoria, on the 21st June, gained by the army under the Marquis of Wellington, changed the aspect of affairs in Spain, and the French troops in Murcia made some retrograde movements. The Anglo-Sicilian army advanced; the Tenth left their cantonments on the 5th of July, and, advancing into Catalonia, they once more appeared before the fortress of Tarragona, which was again invested. While before Tarragona, Assistant-Surgeon Rolston lost a leg, and a private soldier lost both feet from cannon-shot. ”

“ India, is calculated to add to the stability of the Anglo-Indian empire, and also to provide for the future tranquillity of the Punjaub, by maintaining a Sikh government at Lahore, capable of controlling its army, protecting its subjects, and securing the British frontier against similar acts of aggression. ”

“ Early in the spring of 1695, the French commenced some new works between the Lys and the Scheldt, when five hundred men of the Tenth were withdrawn from Malines in the expectation of taking part in an attempt to interrupt the enemy's proceedings; but this enterprise was laid aside, and the regiment encamped at Marykirk until the army took the field, when it was joined by the men left in quarters. ”

“ The weapons carried by the infantry, during the several reigns succeeding the Conquest, were bows and arrows, half-pikes, lances, halberds, various kinds of battle-axes, swords, and daggers. Armour was worn on the head and body, and in course of time the practice became general for military men to be so completely cased in steel, that it was almost impossible to slay them. ”

“ To aid the cause of Spanish independence, a small army was sent from Sicily to the eastern coast of Spain, and the first battalion of the Tenth was destined to take part in this service. The battalion left Messina in January, 1812, embarked at Melazzo, for Palermo, and was in quarters in that part [57] of Sicily until June, when it joined the expedition which sailed for Spain. ”

“ The Tenth were suddenly ordered out at two o'clock on the following morning, and they formed across the road, covering the retreat of the broken remains of the corps in advance. At daybreak the French cavalry appeared, advancing rapidly and in great force, when the regiment commenced retiring, and skirmishing with the enemy during the retrograde movement; the army falling back towards Tarragona. In the evening the regiment took post on a height near Vendrills, where it halted several hours, and afterwards continued its retreat to the vicinity of Tarragona. ”