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Regimental History
In 1794 the regiment
was raised by the Marquis of Huntly, son of the Duchess of Gordon.
The Duchess of Gordon promised each new recruit a kiss. Thus
the Gordons reached their recruiting numbers.
The British army needed new regiments quickly because of the
growing tension between revoltionary France and Great Britain.
The regiment embarked at Fort-George on the 9th of July 1794,
and joined the camp on Netley Common in August, when it was put
on the list of numbered corps as the 100th regiment. The first
five years of its service were spent at Gibraltar, Corsica, Elba,
and Ireland, in which latter place it had most arduous and trying
duties to perform; these, however, it performed with the best
results to the country.
The Gordon Highlanders left Ireland in June 1799 for England,
to join an armament then preparing for the coast of the Netherlands.Or
the Batavian Republic, as it was called then.
The Batavian Republic was officially independent, but in fact
a satelite-state of the French government. The number of the
regiment was changed about this time to the 92nd, the former
regiment of that number, and others, having been reduced.
The first division
of the army, of which the 92nd formed part, landed on the Dutch
coast, near the Helder, on the morning of the 27th of August
1799, without opposition; but the troops had scarcely formed
on a ridge of sand hills, at a little distance from the beach,
when they were attacked by the enemy, who were however driven
back, after a sharp contest of some hours' duration. The 92nd,
which formed a part of General Moore's brigade, was not engaged
in this affair; but in the battle which took place between Bergen
and Egmont on the 2nd of October it took a very distinguished
share.
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After returning to England, the regiment again embarked on the
27th of May 1800, and sailed for the coast of France; but no
landing took place, and the fleet proceeded to Minorca, where
the 92nd disembarked on the 20th of July. It formed part of the
expedition against Egypt.
(In 1798 the French under General Napoleone Buenoparte had landed
in Egypt.)
The Gordon Highlanders particularly distinguished themselves
in the battle of the 13th of March 1801.
The regiment had suffered much from sickness during the voyage
from Minorca to Egypt, and with this and its recent loss in battle
it was so reduced in numbers that General Abercromby ordered
it to the rear on the night of the 20th of March, in order to
take post upon the shore at Aboukir.
In a short time the regiment recovered its health, and shared
in all the movements of the army in Egypt till the termination
of hostilities, when it embarked for Ireland, and landed at Cork
on the 30th of January 1802.
For their services
in Egypt, King George III. conferred upon the 92nd and other
regiments the honour of bearing on their colours and appointments
the "Sphinx," and the word "Egypt." The Grand
Seignior established the order of the Knighthood of the Crescent,
of which the general officers were made members; and gold medals
were presented to the field-officers, captains, and subalterns.
The regiment formed part of the expedition sent against Copenhagen
in 1807, and served in Sir Arthur Wellesley's brigade. The only
instance which offered on this occasion to the regiment to distinguish
itself was a spirited and successful charge with the bayonet,
when it drove back a greatly superior number of the enemy.
In the year 1808 the regiment embarked for Sweden under Sir John
Moore, but its services were not made use of; and immediately
upon the return of the expedition to England the troops employed
were ordered to Portugal under the same commander, landing on
the 27th of August. The 92nd accompanied all the movements of
General Moore's army, and had the misfortune to lose its commanding
officer, Col Napier of Blackstone, who was killed at Corunna,
where the first battalion was posted towards the left of the
army on the road leading to Betanzos.
On its return to England the regiment was quartered at Weeley,
where it received a reinforcement of recruits, which increased
the strength of the corps to rather more than 1000 men. This
number was, however, greatly reduced in the Walcheren expedition,
only 300 out of the 1000 returning fit for duty; but the loss
was speedily supplied by recruits from the second battalion.
The regiment embarked for Portugal on the 21st of September 1810,
and joined the British army under Lord Wellington at the lines
of Torres Vedras, in the following month.
The 92nd was brigaded with the 50th and 71st under the command
of Sir William Erskine at Fuentes d'Onor, May 5th, 1811. The
92nd cleared the town of the enemy.
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At Almaraz, on May 19th, 1812, the 92nd again did good service
in assisting materially to destroy the bridge and fortifications.
This point was of great importance to the enemy, as it secured
the only direct communication between his two armies, which were
now in effect placed several days more distant.
At the battle of Vittoria, fought on June 21st, 1813, the 92nd
distinguished itself by seizing the height occupied by the village
of Puebla, holding it against a most determined resistance, and,
after a fierce struggle, put the enemy to flight.
In the various actions connected with the passage of the Pyrenees
the 92nd took a prominent part.
On the 25th of July 1813, the 92nd was stationed in the Maya
Pass. On this occasion the 92nd was ordered by Lt.-General the
Honourable Sir William Stewart not to charge, the battalion having
been hotly engaged for ten successive hours, and in want of ammunition.
The 92nd, however, for the first time disregarded an order, and
not only charged, but led the charge.
The 92nd behaved with equal bravery on July 30th and 31st and
August 1st.
In the passage of the Nive the 92nd had its full share of the
fighting. On the 13th of December, besides being exposed during
the day to a continued fire of musketry and artillery, the battalion
made four distinct charges with the bayonet, each time driving
the enemy to his original position in front of his entrenchments.
In commemoration
of this action an honorary badge was conferred by His Majesty
on Lt.Col. Cameron, bearing the word "Nive," and the
senior captain of the regiment (Captain James Seaton) was promoted
to the brevet rank of major. The royal authority was also granted
for the 92nd to bear the word "Nive" on its regimental
colour and appointments.
In the course of the afternoon of the 12th of April, intelligence
was received of the abdication of Napoleon: had not the express
been delayed on the journey by the French police, the sacrifice
of many valuable lives would have been prevented.
A disbelief in the truth of this intelligence occasioned much
unnecessary bloodshed at Bayonne, the garrison of which made
a desperate sortie on the 14th of April.
This was the last action of the Peninsular war.
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The 92nd, however, had not long to rest at home, being called
again into active service, to take part in the grand concluding
act of the drama enacted by Napoleon for so many years on the
theatre of Europe. The regiment sailed from the Cove of Cork
on the 1st May 1815, and arrived at Ostend on the 9th. On the
11th the regiment went to Ghent, where it stayed till the 28th,
when it removed to Brussels, the men being billeted throughout
the city.
On the evening of the 15th of June the alarm was sounded in Brussels,
and hasty preparations were made to go out to meet the enemy.
Col. Cameron, who had that day been invested with the order of
the Bath, and who was present at the famous ball given by the
Duke of Wellington when the alarm was given, was quickly at the
head of the regiment. The march was commenced at daybreak on
the 16th by the Namur gate. Lt.-General Sir Thomas Picton's division,
to which the 92nd belonged, came under fire about two o'clock
in front of Genappe, at Quatre Bras, where the main road from
Charleroi to Brussels is crossed by another from Nivelles to
Namur, and which served as the British communication with the
Prussians on the left. The 92nd was formed in front of Quatre
Bras farm-house on the road, lining a ditch, with its rear to
the walls of the building and garden, its right resting on the
crossroads, and its left extending down the front. Shortly after
the 92nd was thus formed, the Duke of Wellington and his staff
came and dismounted in the rear of the centre of the regiment.
The enemy poured a very hot fire of artillery on this post, and
his cavalry charged it, but was received by a well-directed volley
from the regiment, and forced to retire with great loss of men
and horses. Immediately after this the French infantry attacked
the position on the right and in front, and the Gordon Highlanders,
who had been standing impatiently eager for action, were now
ordered to charge the advancing enemy: "92nd, you must charge
these fellows," the Duke said, and with one bound the regiment
was over the ditch advancing at full speed, and making the French
give way on all sides. The 92nd continued to pursue the enemy,
and was hotly engaged till nightfall, when the action ceased.
It was very much cut up both in officers and men, as it was among
the first to go into action, and, along with the other Highland
regiments, had for a long time to resist the attack of the entire
French army. Undoubtedly its greatest loss on this hot day was
the brave and high-minded Col. Cameron.
On the morning of the 17th Lord Wellington had collected the
whole of his army in the position of Waterloo.
The Gordon Highlanders, who were commanded by Major Donald Macdonald,
in consequence of the wound of Lt.-Col. Mitchell, who had succeeded
Col. Cameron in the command, were in the ninth brigade with the
Royal Scots, the Royal Highlanders, and the 44th regiment. This
brigade was stationed on the left wing upon the crest of a small
eminence, forming one side of the hollow, or low valley, which
divided the two hostile armies. A hedge ran along this crest
for nearly two-thirds its whole length. A brigade of The Netherlands,
another of Hanoverians, and General Ponsonby's brigade of the
1st or Royal Dragoons, Scotch Greys, and Inniskillings, were
posted in front of this hedge. Bonaparte drew up his army on
a range of heights in front of the allies, and about ten o'clock
in the morning he commenced a furious attack upon the post at
Hougoumont. This he accompanied with a very heavy cannonade upon
the whole line of the allies; but it was not till about two o'clock
that the brigades already mentioned were attacked. At that time
the enemy, covered by a heavy fire of artillery, advanced in
a solid column of 3000 infantry of the guard, with drums beating,
and all the accompaniments of military array, towards the position
of the Belgians. The enemy received a temporary check from the
fire of the Dutch troops and from some artillery; but the troops
of Nassau gave way, and, retiring behind the crest of the eminence,
left a large space open to the enemy. To prevent the enemy from
entering by this gap, the third battalion of the Royal Scots,
and the second battalion of the 44th, were ordered up to occupy
the ground so abandoned; and here a warm conflict of some duration
took place, in which the two regiments lost many men and expended
their ammunition. The enemy's columns continuing to press forward,
General Pack ordered up the Highlanders, calling out, "Ninetysecond,
now is your time; charge." This order being repeated by
Major Macdonald, the soldiers answered it by a shout. Though
then reduced to less than 250 men, the regiment instantly formed
two men deep, and rushed to the front, against a column ten or
twelve men deep, and equal in length to their whole line. The
enemy, as if appalled by the advance of the Highlanders, stood
motionless, and upon a nearer approach they became panic-stricken,
and, wheeling to the rear, fled in the most disorderly manner,
throwing away their arms and every thing that incumbered them.
So rapid was their flight, that the Highlanders, notwithstanding
their nimbleness of foot, were unable to overtake them ; but
General Ponsonby pursued them with the cavalry at full speed,
and cutting into the centre of the column, killed numbers and
took nearly 1800 prisoners. The animating sentiment, "Scotland
for ever I" received a mutual cheer as the Greys galloped
past the Highlanders, and the former felt the effect of the appeal
so powerfully, that, not content with the destruction or surrender
of the flying column, they passed it, and charged up to the line
of the French position.
During the remainder of the day the 92nd regiment remained at
the post assigned it, but no opportunity afterwards occurred
of giving another proof of its prowess. The important service
it rendered at a critical moment, by charging and routing the
elite of the French infantry, entitle the 92nd to share largely
in the honours of the victory.
After Waterloo, the 92nd, along with the rest of the army, proceeded
to Paris, in the neighbourhood of which it encamped on the 3rd
of July. Shortly after leaving Waterloo, while halting near a
small village for the night, the Duke of Wellington in person
came up and thanked the 92nd for the manner in which the men
had conducted themselves during the engagement, and lavished
upon them the highest eulogiums for their exertions to uphold
the reputation of the British army. The Highland Society of Scotland
unanimously passed a vote of thanks "for the determined
valour and exertions displayed by the regiment, and for the credit
which it did its country in the memorable battles of the 16th
and 18th of June 1815."
The 92nd stayed at Paris till the end of November, when it was
marched to Boulogne, and on December 17th it embarked at Calais,
landing at Margate on the 19th. After staying at various places
in England, it marched from Berwick-on-Tweed to Edinburgh on
the 7th of September 1816, and took up its quarters in Edinburgh
Castle on the 12th, this being the second visit to its native
country since its embodiment.
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