Richard Cannon

“ 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 noble and vigorous defence which the English have made, having deserved all the marks of esteem and veneration which every military man ought to show to such actions, and Marshal Richelieu being desirous also to show to General Blakeney the regard due to the defence he has made, grants to the garrison all the honors of war they can enjoy under the circumstances of going out for an embarkation; to wit,—firelocks on their shoulders, drums beating, colours flying, twenty cartridges each man, and also lighted match. ”

“ The British Soldier is distinguished for a robust and muscular frame,—intrepidity which no danger can appal,—unconquerable spirit and resolution,—patience in fatigue and privation, and cheerful obedience to his superiors. These qualities, united with an excellent system of order and discipline to regulate and give a skilful direction to the energies and adventurous spirit of the hero, and a wise selection of officers of superior talent to command, whose presence inspires confidence,—have been the leading causes of the splendid victories gained by the British [xviii] arms. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ This success facilitated the siege of the city of Barcelona, in which the Thirty-fourth Regiment took an active part. The armed Catalonian and Valencian peasantry blocked up the avenues of the town; seamen were landed from the fleet to take part in the siege; the soldiers were incessant in their exertions; cannon and mortars were dragged up steep precipices by men; and a practicable breach being effected, a detachment of the regiment was in readiness to take part in storming the town; but the garrison surrendered, and saved the effusion of blood which would have attended this enterprise. ”

“ Meanwhile, the war which commenced on the frontiers of the Netherlands, in 1702, had taken a wider range, and Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Spain, had become the theatre of conflict; and in May, the regiment embarked on board the fleet under Sir Cloudesly Shovel, with other forces commanded by General the Earl of Peterborough, either to aid the Duke of Savoy in driving the French out of Italy, to make an attempt on Naples and Sicily, or to effect a landing on the coast of Spain, as should appear most for the interest of Her Majesty’s service. ”

“ The grenadier company was in front, under Captain John Wyatt, who urged his men to make a desperate effort, and fell pierced with many bullets the instant he gained the summit; nearly every man of the leading section experienced the same fate. The other companies of the battalion rushed forward in the face of a storm of musketry, and a determined, but unavailing, effort was made. The commanding officer, the adjutant, and many other brave officers and soldiers, were struck by the tempest of balls. ”

“ Napoleon, finding he could make no impression on their iron front, made a flank movement with his army during the night, and got betwixt them and Moscow. It is too much the idea amongst the continental armies, that if their centre is pierced, or their flanks are turned, the battle is lost, as at the [99] unfortunate battle of Jena, which the Prussians lost, and which decided the fate of their country. The same may be said with regard to the Austrians, at the battles of Wagram and Asperne, which led to the occupation of Vienna by the French, and to peace. ”

“ In their tranquil enjoyment of the blessings which the country derives from the industry and the enterprise of the agriculturist and the trader, its happy inhabitants may be supposed not often to reflect on the perilous duties of the soldier and the sailor,—on their sufferings,—and on the sacrifice of valuable life, by which so many national benefits are obtained and preserved. ”

“ 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, being 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. ”

“ Philip, the regiment embarked for Gibraltar, and after a short stay at that fortress, proceeded to England, where its arrival was hailed with acclamations by the inhabitants of the towns through which it passed, who were proud of the honor acquired by the regiments which defended the principal fortress of Minorca. ”

“ The Marine corps were embarked in the Fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke, and were at the taking or Gibraltar, and in its subsequent defence in 1704; they were afterwards employed at the siege of Barcelona in 1705.
[3] The brave Sir Roger Williams, in his Discourse on War, printed in 1590 observes:—“I persuade myself ten thousand of our nation would beat thirty thousand of theirs (the Spaniards) out of the field, let them be chosen where they list.” Yet at this time the Spanish infantry was allowed to be the best disciplined in Europe. ”

“ In the first place, we are now a much more scientific army; next, we are an infinitely better educated body, and much more sober, as relates both to Officers and soldiers; and thirdly, as to our movements,—When I first joined the army, there was no officer to be found in a regiment who could give a sketch of a country, or delineate a position ”

“ After the peace in 1697 the Marine regiments were disbanded, but were again formed on the breaking out of the war in 1702. [2]
During the reign of Queen Anne the pikes were laid aside, and every infantry soldier was armed with a musket, bayonet, and sword; the grenadiers ceased, about the same period, to carry hand grenades; and the regiments were directed to lay aside their third colour: the corps of Royal Artillery was first added to the Army in this reign.
About the year 1745, the men of the battalion companies of infantry ceased to carry swords ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the garrison, bravely struggling against multiplied difficulties, had become exhausted; its numbers decreased by deaths, wounds, and sickness to about a thousand men, and a practical breach was ready for the enemy to attack the place by storm, the combined English and Dutch fleets approached with reinforcements; the French naval force hurried from before the town, and the garrison was relieved. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Leaving Gibraltar, the fleet proceeded to the Bay of Altea, in Valencia, and a number of Catalonians and Valencians throwing off their allegiance to the House of Bourbon, and acknowledging Archduke Charles as king of Spain, the British general was induced to undertake the siege of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, which was defended by upwards of five thousand men, under the viceroy of Catalonia, Don Francis Velasco. In 1697, this fortress resisted thirty thousand French troops eight weeks, and cost Louis XIV. twelve thousand men ”

“ In the General Orders issued by Lieut.-General Sir John Hope (afterwards Lord Hopetoun) , congratulating the army upon the successful result of the Battle of Corunna, on the 16th of January, 1809, it is stated:—“On no occasion has the undaunted valour of British troops ever been more manifest. At the termination of a severe and harassing march, rendered necessary by the superiority which the enemy had acquired, and which had materially impaired the efficiency of the troops, many disadvantages were to be encountered. ”

“ Marshal Soult, finding that his French soldiers could not force the position, withdrew beyond the river, and the battle was thus won by the divisions of the allied army, under Marshal Sir William Carr Beresford, who stated in his public despatch,—“It is impossible to enumerate every instance of discipline and valour shown on this severely contested day; but never troops more valiantly or more gloriously maintained the honor of their respective countries.” ”

“ They had also men armed with clubs, others with battle-axes and javelins.
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 ”

“ His mode of formation was copied by the English, French, and other European states; but so great was the prejudice in favour of ancient customs, that all his improvements were not adopted until near a century afterwards.
In 1664 King Charles II. raised a corps for sea-service, styled the Admiral’s regiment. In 1678 each company of 100 men usually consisted of 30 pikemen, 60 musketeers, and 10 men armed with light firelocks. In this year the King added a company of men armed with hand grenades to each of the old British regiments, which was designated the “grenadier company.” ”

“ The second battalion was stationed at Jersey until the summer of 1809, when it was completed to a thousand rank and file by volunteers from the militia, and embarked for the Peninsula, to join the British army, under Sir Arthur Wellesley, and take part in the deliverance of Portugal and Spain from the tyrannical domination of the Emperor Napoleon, who was attempting to bring those kingdoms under his despotic sway. ”

“ Choosing the profession of arms, he entered the army as ensign in the First Foot Guards, and was appointed lieutenant and captain in the Second Foot Guards in 1752; in 1755 he was nominated lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regiment; he was honored with the appointment of aide-de-camp to King George II., with the rank of colonel, in 1758, and in 1759 he obtained the colonelcy of the Sixty-seventh Regiment, from which he was removed in 1760 to the Thirty-fourth. ”

“ In conclusion, I fear I have occupied a good deal of your time, but I was anxious that you should hear many of these important military facts, from an individual who has passed above fifty years in the service, and who, in following up his profession, has crossed the tropics twelve times, the equinoxial line twice, and circumnavigated the globe, besides having been in America and other parts of the world. ”

“ The siege of the fort was commenced by the enemy, and the determined resistance encountered by the French commander occasioned him to send for additional forces. The conduct of the garrison became a subject of admiration, and the bravery and vigilance of the officers inspired the soldiers with increased confidence. ”