Richard Cannon

“ The regiment continued under the immediate directions of the Earl of Peterborough, with whose achievements its services are connected; his raising the siege of San Matteo, the capture of Monviedro, his exploits in Valencia, and the relief of the capital of that province,—successes gained with a small body of soldiers over a numerous army,—carry with them the appearance of fiction and romance more than of sober reality; but being supported by abundance of collateral and direct evidence, the truth of these achievements is unquestionable. ”

“ Great valour was displayed, but in vain, for the flight of the Portuguese squadrons had left the British and Dutch exposed to the weight and power of the enemy’s superior numbers, and no hope of victory remained. The Earl of Galway effected his retreat with the dragoons; several general officers collected the broken remains of the English infantry, which fought in the centre, into a body, and uniting them with some Dutch and Portuguese, formed a column of nearly four thousand men, which retreated two leagues, repulsing the pursuing enemy from time to time. ”

“ 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 Crecy, 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. ”

“ A thousand Catalonians and Valentians who had thrown off their allegiance to the house of Bourbon, and had acknowledged the Archduke Charles as the Sovereign of Spain, seized on the town of Denia, while others made demonstrations of giving effectual aid to the expedition; such a spirit of enterprise was evinced by King Charles, the Earl of Peterborough, the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, and others, that both officers and men became imbued with the ardent zeal of their superiors, and resolved to effect something great and remarkable. ”

“ The conduct of the British Troops, their valour, and endurance, have shone conspicuously under great and trying difficulties; and their character has been established in Continental warfare by the irresistible spirit with which they have effected debarkations in spite of the most formidable opposition, and by the gallantry and steadiness with which they have maintained their advantages against superior numbers. ”

“ In the year 1783, peace was concluded between England, France, Spain, and Holland. A new field of service was about to open for the Thirty-sixth, that regiment having been selected to proceed to the East Indies, for which country it embarked at Portsmouth on the 10th of March 1783, and arrived at Madras in July following, while the British were engaged in hostilities against the powerful Sultan of the Mysore, Tippoo Saib, who, on the death of his father, Hyder Ali, in December of the preceding year, had succeeded to the dominions of that soldier of fortune. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ Although the movements and evolutions have been copied from the continental armies, yet various improvements have from time to time been introduced, to ensure that simplicity and celerity by which the superiority of the national military character is maintained. The rank and influence which Great Britain has attained among the nations of the world, have in a great measure been purchased by the valour of the Army, and to persons who have the welfare of their country at heart, the records of the several regiments cannot fail to prove interesting. ”

“ The Lieut.-General hopes the loss in point of numbers is not so considerable as might have been expected; he laments, however, the fall of the gallant soldiers and valuable officers who have suffered.
“The Lieut-General knows that it is impossible, in any language he can use, to enhance the esteem, or diminish the regret, that the army feels with him for its late Commander. His career has been unfortunately too limited for his country, but has been sufficient for his own fame. ”

“ The country was very close, and there being but one road between two rugged hills, the British formed one column, the cavalry leading; these moving faster than the infantry had reached Shawoor, and were most of them dismounted collecting forage, when Tippoo’s forces were perceived on some rising ground on the right flank, gaining on the British with great rapidity. The centre of the line had just reached some rising ground, when the enemy opened two guns; the second shot killed and wounded four men of the Thirty-sixth regiment. ”

“ The Americans having invaded Upper Canada at Queenstown on the 13th of October 1812, and General Brock, commanding in the province, having fallen in a gallant effort with an independent force to oppose them, Major-General Sheaffe, on whom the command devolved, assembled some regular troops and militia, with a few Indians, and the same day attacked them in a woody height, which they occupied above the town, and completely defeated them, though far exceeding his own followers in number, their Commander delivering his sword, and surrendering his surviving troops on the field of battle. ”

“ 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. ”

“ History contains so many proofs of extraordinary acts of bravery, that no doubts can be raised upon the facts which are recorded. It must therefore be admitted, that the distinguishing feature of the British soldier is Intrepidity. This quality was evinced by the inhabitants of England when their country was invaded by Julius Cæsar with a Roman army, on which occasion the undaunted Britons rushed into the sea to attack the Roman soldiers as they descended from their ships ”

“ 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 ”

“ Colonel Deare, of the Bengal Artillery, who [44] was on the right giving some necessary directions, was shot through the body shortly after the commencement of the action. At about one o’clock the axletrees of the two twelve-pounders broke, and rendered those two guns useless; these were the best the British had for the purpose.
Finding that the men were beginning to suffer very much, as nearly every ball struck the line, Colonel Floyd, not wishing to give up his advantageous position, ordered the men to lie down, which preserved the lives of several. ”

“ The Marine corps were embarked in the Fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke, and were at the taking of 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. ”

“ Prior to the decease of King William the reduction of Cadiz had been contemplated, after which it was resolved to embark an expedition against the possessions of Spain in the West Indies. Queen Anne following out this policy, it was arranged that a combined fleet of English and Dutch ships, consisting of fifty sail of the line, besides frigates, under Admiral Sir George Rooke, [5] and a land force, amounting to nearly fourteen thousand men, under the command of the Duke of Ormond, should proceed to the coast of Spain. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Earl of Peterborough hastened from Valencia with a body of select troops, but found the town so closely beset that he was unable to force his way into it, when he took to the mountains, and harassed the enemy with skirmishes and night alarms. When the garrison was nearly exhausted, its numbers decreased from deaths, wounds, sickness, and other causes to about a thousand effective men, and a practicable breach was ready for the enemy to attack the place by storm, the English and Dutch fleet arrived with five regiments of foot ”

“ British line, to cut off the right of the allies from the Ciudad Rodrigo road, the third division was ordered to advance in four columns, supported by cavalry to turn the French left. The evolutions of this great battle are too varied to be clearly described with brevity. The sixth division under Major-General Clinton, of which the Thirty-sixth formed part, was placed at first in reserve, but at a critical period in the action it was ordered up to relieve the fourth division, and the battle was soon restored to its former success. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ I had the pleasure of seeing the sixth division under Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, after having crossed the Nivelle, and having driven in the enemy’s piquets on both banks, and having covered the passage of the Portuguese division under Lieut.-Colonel Sir John Hamilton, on its right, make a most handsome attack upon the right of the enemy’s position behind Ainhoa, and on the right of the Nivelle, and carry all the entrenchments, and the redoubt on that flank. ”

“ Humphrey Bland served in several campaigns on the continent under the famous John Duke of Marlborough, as a Lieutenant and Captain of horse. He afterwards served as Lieut.-Colonel in Spain, and on the 27th of July 1710 was wounded at the battle of Almanara. In 1715, when a number of new corps were raised, King George I. appointed him Lieut.-Colonel of the Eleventh dragoons, and he was instrumental with his regiment in suppressing the rebellion which broke out in Scotland towards the end of that year ”

“ On the 17th of September, Lieut.-Colonel Southwell, of the Sixth regiment of foot, being on duty in the trenches, observed that the bombs thrown by a Dutch bombardier from a small mortar fell to the left of the fort, and concluding that there was a magazine in the place, he traversed the mortar himself more to the right, and fired it; the bomb fell into a small chapel where the garrison had stored their powder, which exploded, and buried a number of officers and men in the ruins. ”

“ Before the ground had been well quitted, it was covered by the enemy’s troops, who could be seen cutting down every straggler they met; they came close on the rear, annoying it as much as they could; all the wounded and sick as were able to make their way to the line were placed on the guns, and such officers’ horses as could be found; in a short time the guns were laden with them as much as could by any method be placed on them, which much increased the difficulty of moving, the soldiers being chiefly obliged to drag the guns. ”

“ The Marquis of Wellington’s plan of attack was for Marshal Sir William Beresford, who was on the right of the Ers with the fourth and sixth divisions, to cross that river at the bridge of Croix d’Orade, to gain possession of Montblanc, and to march up to the left of the Ers to turn the enemy’s right, while Lieut.-General Don Manuel Freyre, with the Spanish corps under his command, supported by the British cavalry, attacked the front. ”