Light Dragoons

“ With alacrity was the order obeyed, and the exhausted British infantry rested for an interval on their arms, whilst a rushing sound, as of a suddenly bursting tempest, was heard approaching the fray, and onwards came H.M. 3rd Light Dragoons to the charge. The entrenchments and the batteries were equally futile obstacles to oppose those gallant cavaliers, though the former brought many a horse and rider to the ground, and the latter tore a deadly gap through their ranks. ”

“ Major-General Sir Robert Dick was much gratified this morning to find Her Majesty's Thirteenth Light Dragoons in such high order. The major-general will not fail to report to the general commanding-in-chief the soldier-like appearance and steadiness of the men, and the serviceable condition of the horses; the movements were made with precision and celerity, notwithstanding the heavy sandy ground the regiment moved over ”

“ Men and horses rolled indiscriminately upon the earth. Then would come a charge of our clashing squadrons, who, riding recklessly upon the foe, were in their turn to be repulsed by numbers, and fresh attacks poured down upon our unshaken infantry.
“That column yonder is wavering. Why does he not bring up his supporting squadrons?” inquired the duke, pointing to a Belgian regiment of light dragoons, who were formed in the same brigade with the 7th Hussars. ”

“ They had marched eighty miles in four days over the most difficult country, and they were employed in pursuing, along a mountainous region, the discomfited French troops, whose line of retreat could be traced by the smoke of burning houses. Having followed the enemy as far as Ginjo, the Fourteenth light dragoons halted, and afterwards moved towards Abrantes, where the army was concentrated for operations on the Tagus. ”

“ We were eight days in the Escurial, and continued to watch the motions of the French alongst the Tagus, skirmishing almost every day. Individuals of the 13th and 14th Light Dragoons used to engage in single combat with the horsemen of the enemy. ”

“ After their return from Germany the Royal Dragoons were ordered to proceed to Scotland; at the same time the light troop was disbanded, and the establishment was reduced to two hundred and thirty-one officers and soldiers. Eight men per troop were equipped as light dragoons, and mounted on small horses for skirmishing and other light services; the remainder of the regiment was mounted on large horses of superior weight and power. ”

“ If ever there was a corps calculated to increase and foster these sentiments, the 14th Light Dragoons was such. The warm affection, the truly heart-felt regard, which existed among my brother officers, made of our mess a happy home. Our veteran colonel, grown gray in campaigning, was like a father to us ”

“ In the British service the dragoons (1st Royals, 2nd Scots Greys, 6th Inniskillings) are heavy cavalry, the Dragoon Guards (seven regiments) are medium, as are the dragoons of other countries. The light cavalry of the British army in the 18th and early 19th century was for the most part called light dragoons. ”

“ Lieut.-General Hill has received, with much satisfaction, from Brigadier-General Fane, the report of an attack made yesterday morning by a squadron consisting of one troop of the Thirteenth British Light Dragoons and one troop of the Fourth Portuguese Dragoons, under the command of Captain White of the former, on a body of the enemy's cavalry at Ladoera, the result of which was the capture of two lieutenants, three serjeants, six corporals, one trumpeter, and fifty dragoons, and about fifty-eight horses. ”

“ I was one of the advanced guard formed of men selected from the 8th Hussars, 4th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, 13th Light Dragoons, and 11th Hussars, and we were, of course, the first to come within sight of the enemy, who, in place of advancing to meet us, set fire to houses, corn-stacks, and every vestige of harvest produce on the land for miles around. ”

“ In 1755, when the aggressions of the French in North America led to acts of open hostility, the establishment was augmented one corporal and fifteen men per troop. Shortly afterwards a light troop was added on the same principle as light companies to infantry corps: and the regiment consisted of six heavy troops and one light troop. The light dragoons were sometimes styled hussars. ”

“ For seven years after the British Army possessed no Light Cavalry, until at the end of 1755 a single troop of Light Dragoons—3 officers and 65 men [5] strong—was added to each of the eleven cavalry regiments on the British establishment, viz., the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Dragoon Guards, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, and 11th Dragoons. These light dragoons were armed with carbine and bayonet and a single pistol, the second holster being filled (sufficiently filled, one must conclude) with an axe, a hedging-bill, and a spade. ”

“ It consists of a memorial to the King from the 17th Light Dragoons, setting forth “that they look upon themselves as particularly distinguished, by having been employed in the actual service of their country ever since the rebellion began [63] in America. 1782. But its being the only regiment of Dragoons in this service, and their promotion being entirely confined to that line, they cannot but feel sensibly when they see every day promotion made over them of officers of inferior rank.” ”

“ There are the 9th and 13th Light Dragoons and the fire of the French seems to have cooled their chivalry a little, and shown them that a sabre is as nothing against brown Bess, with a bayonet on her muzzle. They are retiring towards us, after doing, however, all that brave hearts could do. Poor fellows! many of them are lying rolling about wounded and in agony, or already dead, near the skirts of that confounded copse by which the frog-eaters have escaped. ”

“ The regiment remained at Jamaica until July, 1798, when it transferred a few of the surviving men to the Twentieth Light Dragoons, and the remainder, amounting only to fifty-two individuals, embarked for England, where they arrived in October, and landed at Gravesend. ”

“ A tremendous discharge of musketry at this moment, accompanied by a deafening cheer, announced the advance of the French, and soon the head of the Highland brigade was seen descending towards the bridge, followed by the Rifles and the 95th; the cavalry, consisting of the 11th and 14th Light Dragoons, were now formed in column of attack, and the infantry deployed into line; and in an instant after, high above the din and crash of battle, I heard the word “Charge!” ”

“ However, by repeated charges of his light cavalry, he drove the enemy back into their camp, and took three pieces of cannon. He had, at one time, taken eight; but the enemy, bringing up repeated reinforcements of fresh troops, retook five.
"Our loss I cannot yet ascertain, but I fear the 15th Light Dragoons have suffered considerably. Two battalions of the enemy are entirely destroyed."
The especial bravery of the troops engaged on the 26th, which is another subject noticed by your correspondent Bibliothecar. Chetham. ”

“ It is an old mess-room joke and legend, that the tailors having used up all their scarlet cloth, were compelled to make up the deficiency in cuffs and collars, by fragments of various colours; and this was the origin, (so the veracious “oldster” assures the “youngster,”) of the facings of the British Army. The 13th Light Dragoons were known from the colour of their facings as “the Green Dragoons,” to which their motto, “Viret in æternum” refers, and was confirmed in 1836, the green facings having been restored three years before. The 97th are known as “Celestials,” from their sky-blue facings. ”

“ The war was one to be fought out by small bodies of men far from their supports, wielding the axe and the oar as much as the rifle: forage was hard to get, and there was little place for mounted men. Under these conditions, the 19th Light Dragoons were only engaged in small detachments, never more than a squadron, seldom more than a troop. Their duties were of a most harassing kind, on outpost and reconnoissance duty. Never once did they have an opportunity of crossing swords with the enemy’s cavalry. ”

“ A cordial unanimity has likewise subsisted between the officers and men of the regiment, and their brethren-in-arms of the Honourable East India Company’s service, who, doubtless, will long cherish the remembrance of a corps as much distinguished for their social qualities and orderly conduct, as for that high principle of military feeling which has so decidedly marked the character of the King’s Royal Irish Light Dragoons. ”

“ Everywhere cavalry came trampling and crowding out of the woods and cantering away toward the north, hussars mostly, at first, then chasseurs-à-cheval, an entire brigade of these splendid lancers, pouring out into the road and taking the Ausone route at a gallop.
More motor cycles flashed past; then half a dozen automobiles, in which officers were seated examining maps; then up the road galloped dragoon lancers, wearing grey helmet slips and escorting three light field guns, the drivers of which were also dragoons—a sight Warner had never before seen. ”

“ After our arrival at Varna we had to wait a few days for the order of embarkation, and finally sailed in company with the 17th Lancers in the Himalaya, Lord Cardigan and his staff being aboard the same vessel; the 11th Hussars, 4th and 13th Light Dragoons being embarked aboard other transports, as also the heavy cavalry at the same time. Never was an army embarked for almost immediate active service under less favourable circumstances. ”

“ The blacks revolted, particularly in the island of St. Domingo. Anarchy, massacre, and devastation followed, and several planters obtained aid from the English, and transferred their allegiance from France to the British crown. Additional forces were ordered to the West Indies. Two troops of the Thirteenth Light Dragoons were withdrawn from Ireland in June, 1795; they remained a few weeks in England, and embarked, in September, for Jamaica. ”

“ The British loss amounted to 515 killed, wounded, and missing, which fell principally on the Royal Scots and 100th, who lost 422 officers and men out of a total of 950 engaged. [199] The 19th Light Dragoons had one sergeant and five men wounded. General Riall, in his dispatch after the battle, says:—
“I am particularly obliged to Major Lisle of the 19th Light Dragoons for the manner in which he covered and protected one of the 24-pounders which had been disabled. ”

“ On the 20th of September the King's [6] troops confronted the insurgents near Prestonpans and the night was passed in the field: the Fourteenth dragoons, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel William Wright, furnished videttes and patrols on the flanks of the army. Before day-break, on the following morning, a chosen band of Highlanders advanced through the thick atmosphere, and attacked the right of the King's troops; their sudden advance in the dark, their superior numbers, and peculiar mode of fighting, struck with consternation the few men who guarded the artillery, and who faced about and fled. ”

“ The retreat was continued several miles, the men in high spirits at their wonderful success; at length they were met by the retiring French infantry, and by all the beaten cavalry which could find refuge with it. For a few exhausted dragoons to have engaged [45] that body of troops would have been madness, and the Thirteenth were forced to abandon their captures and make a detour to the right to join the army, which they effected, and went into bivouac in the neighbourhood of Campo Mayor. The loss of the regiment was twelve men and seven horses killed ”

“ Dragoon Guards and Dragoons rank as heavy cavalry;77 Lancers are supposed to be of medium weight, and Hussars light cavalry. In reality Dragoon Guards and Dragoons are slightly heavier than other corps—except the Household Cavalry, who are heaviest of all—but Lancers and Hussars are of about equal weight, both as regards horses and men. ”

“ The dragoons advanced to charge the Highlanders; but seeing the very superior numbers of their opponents, and being discouraged by the loss of their artillery, they made only a feeble effort to stem the torrent of battle, and afterwards retired from the field. Several officers, and a few private soldiers, however, behaved with great gallantry, and among others, Major Richard Bowles, of the Fourteenth dragoons, particularly distinguished himself ”

“ When any Discovery is made from which there is reason to belive the Enemy is on the Coast A Patrole to be sent both ways along the Coast with all Expedition with a Report and to be Communicated from Seaford to the Party of the King's Light Dragoones at Newhaven to be forwarded to the Officer commanding that Regiment.
A patrole of a Dragoon Mounted to set out every Morning soon after Sun Rise from Dover and Seaford to the next Post on the Road to Hastings—they are to have a sealed card on which is written the time the patrole left each Station. ”

“ Information having been communicated to Lieut.-Colonel Stanhope that a considerable party of Pindarees had appeared within a forced march of his camp, a detachment was immediately put in motion, and arrived in sight of the enemy after a march of thirty miles. The dragoons immediately formed and attacked the Pindarees, who, after a show of resistance, betook themselves to flight, closely pursued by the detachment, which cut down upwards of two hundred horsemen. ”