T. Gowing

List of Battles Fought by Land between 1704 and 1882, showing date when each was Fought, the Number we Lost, the supposed Number of the Enemy’s Loss; the Regiments that Fought them, and a few Remarks upon some of them—First Action of the 15th Hussars—A Gallant Regiment of Tailors—Singular Description of a Deserter, from London Gazette, 1689—An Account of the Rise of the late Duke of Wellington—Loss of each Regiment on the Field of Waterloo—Some of the Duke’s Letters about the Field of Waterloo—Napoleon and the French Press—The British Amazon.

The following is a list of all the battles of importance that have been fought on land by the British Army since 1704, with the Regiments that fought them, the dates on which they were fought, and the number of Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and men that fell dead or wounded in each. The information contained in these tables cannot, I believe, be found in any other work—I have been at no little trouble in collecting it from various sources, and trust it will prove of more than passing interest to the general as well as the military reader:—

A portion of the Royal Artillery were in almost every battle. The Marines have often put their shoulders to the wheel, and these amphibious gentlemen have proved that they are second to none; and the late go-in at Tel-el-Kebir has shown that they have not degenerated from their forefathers, who went at it, at the call of that glorious old Nelson, of whom Norfolk may well be proud, for his name is immortal. And last, but not least, our noble Jack Tars, or Blue Jackets, have repeatedly helped to plant our glorious old Standard in many a hot corner—shoulder to shoulder with the land-crabs, as they like to call us sometimes. This little book must not attempt to unfold the glorious deeds of our sailors, but I would fain pay a tribute of respect to them for their manly conduct under the most trying circumstances. Nothing but death will stop these “Trafalgar lambs;” the Russians will not forget them for some time to come, and the Mutineers in India have had good cause to remember them.

FIRST ACTION OF THE 15th HUSSARS.

The first regiment of Light Dragoons formed for permanent service was the present 15th Hussars. In 1759 many journeymen tailors went up to London to lay a petition before Parliament against certain grievances in connection with the goose; failing to obtain their object, and becoming slightly ruffled, some hundreds of them at once enlisted into the new corps that was being raised by the afterwards celebrated defender of Gibraltar, Col. Eliott. It is an old saying, that it takes nine tailors to make a man; but in the maiden action, at Emsdorf, 16th July, 1760, they proved that one tailor was more than a match for nine Frenchmen. They put small oak branches in their helmets, and displayed the firmness of that tree, proving themselves heroes of no mean quality; 500 of the enemy got separated from the main body, and had to lay down their arms to the tailors; the pursuit was then continued, and the enemy overtaken, and surrendered prisoners of war to the tailors; the total number of prisoners amounted to 2,659 officers and men; while sixteen standards or colours were captured by this regiment of tailors, in Germany, from the French, during the Seven Years’ War, from 1757 to 1763. The French say that it takes nine good men to make a tailor; they evidently have not forgotten the 15th Hussars.

SINGULAR DESCRIPTION OF A DESERTER.

OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF FIELD-MARSHAL
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON, K.G.

I will now venture to give a sketch of the life and military achievements of that distinguished General, Wellington, under whom the British Army met and conquered the terror of Europe, Napoleon. Wellington, as most of my readers are perhaps aware, was a native of the Emerald Isle, whose sons have for many years been the pride of our Army and Navy, and have gone shoulder to shoulder with the sons of Albion upon many a hard fought field; and here I would remark that the very man whom Her Most Gracious Majesty and the nation at large now delights to honour, the present Lord Wolseley, is a native of that Isle. Wellington was born 1st May, 1769, (the same year that Napoleon was born); and the following are the dates of his various promotions:—

He had plenty of friends in high places to lift him up the ladder of promotion, so that in eight short years he was in a position to reap all kinds of honours.

From 1799 to 1815, his career had been one continual string of victories—from Seringapatam to the Field of Waterloo.

After the Fortress of Seringapatam had been carried by storm, our young hero, then in his 30th year, was appointed its Governor, 6th May, 1799. The inhabitants of Central India and Calcutta soon acknowledged his services by presenting him with a sword of the value of £1,000, 21st February, 1804; and the Officers that had served under him at Assaye, 23rd October, 1803, presented the conqueror with a service of plate, embossed with “Assaye, 26th February, 1804.” He was appointed by the then King, George III, Knight Companion of the Bath, for his valorous services in India, 1st September, 1804. Thanked by his country in Parliament for the first time, 8th March, 1805, he now returned to England, and in April, 1807, was sworn in a Privy Councillor. He was appointed Secretary to Ireland, 19th April, 1807. He was at the capture of Copenhagen, 5th September, 1807, and his conduct there again brought forth the thanks of Parliament, 1st February, 1808. He shortly afterwards sailed for Portugal, to measure his victorious sword with the best of Napoleon’s Generals, and there the Officers who had the pleasure of serving under him could see his worth as a General, and presented him with a piece of plate to commemorate the battle and glorious victory of Vimiera, 21st August, 1808. He was thanked, for the third time, by his country assembled in Parliament, for his victory over the Legions of France at Vimiera, 27th January, 1809. He was next appointed to command our Army in Portugal, 2nd April, 1809; and was appointed Marshal-General of the Portuguese Army, 6th July, 1809. He again met and rolled up the Legions of France on the memorable field of Talavera, 27th and 28th July, 1809; and was thanked, for the fourth time, by Parliament for this victory, 1st February, 1810, while a pension of £2,000 per annum was voted to him and his two succeeding male heirs, 16th February, 1810. He was again thanked by Parliament for the liberation of Portugal at the point of the British conquering bayonet, directed by his master-mind; and was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword of Portugal by its Prince Regent, 26th October, 1811. We next find him at Ciudad Rodrigo, which, after a desperate resistance, he took by storm, 19th January, 1812. For this he was created by the Regency of Spain, Duke of Ciudad-Rodrigo, January, 1812; and he was thanked for the sixth time by his country in Parliament for this victory, 10th February, 1812. He was now advanced in the British Peerage by the title of Earl Wellington, 18th February, 1812; and £2,000 more was voted in addition to his former grant, 21st February, 1812. He was, shortly after this, under the walls of Badajoz, which was carried by storm at the point of the queen of weapons. Here our men disgraced themselves under the influence of liquor; the desperate resistance that the enemy had made had wrought our men up to a state of madness, and, once an entrance was forced, the scene baffles all description, on that terrible 6th April, 1812. The great military historian Sir W. Napier, may well say of that night, “Oh, horror of horrors! pen refuses to record the horrible fiend-like deeds of our poor deluded half-mad countrymen.” Our hero was thanked by parliament, for the seventh time, for Badajoz, 27th April, 1812; the order of the Golden Fleece of Spain was conferred upon him by the Regency of that unhappy country, July, 1812; he was appointed General of the Spanish Armies 12th August, 1812, and advanced in the British Peerage by the title of Marquis of Wellington, 18th August, 1812; again advanced by the Regent of Portugal to the title of Marques de Torres Vedras, 12th September, 1812. His forethought in throwing up those formidable works at this place struck the French commanders with awe, and none dared attack them. He again struck a terrible blow on the plains of Salamanca, and routed the Legions of France, with all their martial pride, from the field, 22nd July, 1812; and was again thanked by Parliament, for the eighth time, for this crushing defeat he inflicted upon the enemy, while a grant of £100,000 was voted by Parliament for the purchase of an estate for our hero, 7th December, 1812. He inflicted another terrible blow on the proud Legions of France on the plains of Vittoria, 21st June, 1813; for this he was raised by the Regent of Portugal to the title of Duke of Vittoria, 18th December 1813, he was elected a Knight of the Garter, and thanked by Parliament, for the ninth time, for his glorious victory of the 21st June, 1813. The Field-Marshal’s baton of Marshal Jordan was captured on this field and was sent home to the Prince Regent, and in return the Prince sent out to his conquering General the baton of a Field-Marshal of England. San Sebastian was carried by storm, and a number of minor operations were conducted to a successful issue, for which our hero was, for the tenth time, thanked by Parliament. On the 4th March, 1814, the Prince Regent granted permission to the Marquis of Wellington to accept and wear the following Orders or Grand Crosses:—the Imperial and Royal Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa, the Imperial Russian Military Order of St. George, the Royal Prussian Military Order of the Black Eagle, the Royal Swedish Military Order of the Sword. Napoleon kept continually changing Wellington’s opponent Generals, but our hero beat them all in detail. Marshal Soult, or the Duke of Dalmatia, was Napoleon’s favourite General. He had been tried upon nearly 100 fields, and now he was to measure his sword against Wellington, who had by this time immortalised himself, and had beaten all who came in his way. Soult got a warm reception, for on the field of Orthes, 27th February, 1814, the Legions of France, under Napoleon’s pet General, were again routed by the Allied Armies under our hero, who was again thanked, for the eleventh time, by the Parliament and the Prince Regent for the victory. Our hero was next advanced in the British peerage by the title of Marquis of Duoro and Duke of Wellington, 3rd May, 1814, and a grant of £400,000 was voted by Parliament, in addition to all former grants, 24th June, 1814. Other battles were fought in the Peninsula but all opponents had to go down before the never-failing, conquering British bayonet, led by our invincible son of the Emerald Isle. Peace was now for a time purchased by the blood of thousands of the best of the sons of Britain; and, on the 5th July, 1814, our hero was sent as Ambassador to France. On the 11th April, 1815, he again took command of the British Forces on the Continent. Napoleon the disturber of the civilized world, was again in the field, and at Waterloo, 16th, 17th, and 18th June, 1815, threw down the gauntlet at our hero’s feet. It was hard pounding, but Wellington said, “let’s see who will pound the longest.” Napoleon had collected an army of veterans, and was determined to measure his conquering sword upon such a fair field with the despised Sepoy General, as he was wont to call his Grace. The greater portion of the Army that won Waterloo consisted of recruits; but, as His Grace said afterwards, had he had with him the Army that fought Vittoria, he would have charged the whole of the proud Legions of France from the field, long before our Allies the Prussians came up, but most of these veterans were then across the Atlantic. His Grace exposed himself on this field until he was remonstrated with, and when requested to go to the rear, his answer was, “I will when I see those fellows off,” pointing to the grim-faced veterans of the Guard that had decided almost every field that Napoleon had fought. On every field that Napoleon commanded in person, his old Guards were with him, and when called upon on the field of Waterloo to surrender, the answer was: “The Guard may die but not surrender.” Such, were the men that our Foot Guards and 52nd routed from the field. Our hero was again, for the twelfth time, thanked by a grateful country in Parliament for Waterloo, and a grant of £200,000 was voted by Parliament, in addition to all former grants, 6th July, 1815. He was created Prince of Waterloo by the King of the Netherlands, 18th July, 1815, and on the 22nd October, 1815, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies of occupation in France. On the 15th of November, 1818, he was appointed a Field-Marshal in the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian Armies. His Grace had exhausted all the honours that a grateful country could heap upon one of its citizens. He became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, 22nd January, 1827, and on the 13th February, 1828, First Lord of the Treasury. On the 20th January, 1829, he was appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford, 29th January, 1834. No other man ever lived to attain the honours that His Grace the Duke of Wellington did. But in spite of all the gifts that a grateful Sovereign and country could heap upon him, he had to die and leave them behind. His remains were accorded a State funeral, and rest in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, where a fitting monument records the esteem and admiration with which he was justly regarded by his fellow countrymen.

WELLINGTON AND NAPOLEON.

Waterloo was a terrible fight; and the following are a few extracts from some of His Grace the Duke of Wellington’s letters to his friends, written shortly after the battle, and which will prove of much interest:—

From “Garwood,” Vol. XII.

To Marshal, Prince Schwarzenberg.

Ioncourt, June 26th, 1815.

Our battle on the 18th was one of giants, and our success was most complete, as you perceive. God grant I may never see another (and He did grant it), for I am overwhelmed with grief at the loss of my old friends and comrades.

WELLINGTON.