The following letter from Brigadier-General Ferguson to Major-General Sir David Baird, relative to the regiment and its commander, is here inserted:— “_Cape Town, 19th January, 1806._ “Sir, “As in the affair of Bleuberg, on the 8th instant, chance placed two of the enemy’s guns in possession of the Highland brigade, I hope you will be pleased to order the allowance usually granted on such occasions to be issued and shared amongst the Seventy-first, Seventy-second, and Ninety-third Regiments. “Although the guns fell into our hands in front of the Seventy-first Highlanders, Lieut.-Colonel Pack (desirous that the three regiments should be considered as one family) has most handsomely withdrawn the prior claim His Majesty’s Seventy-first Highlanders might have made, and to which the situation of the guns, when taken, would have entitled that most excellent corps. “I have, etc., (Signed) “R. C. FERGUSON, “_Brigadier-General_. “_Major-General Sir David Baird._” The Seventy-first went into quarters at the cantonment of Wynberg, about seven miles from Cape Town, on the road to Simon’s Bay, where the battalion remained until the 12th of April, when, most unexpectedly, an order arrived for its immediate embarkation on an expedition to the Rio de la Plata, in South America, which had been planned by the British Commanders, naval and military, at the Cape. The Seventy-first was the only corps of the Cape garrison destined for this service, with the addition of a few dragoons and some artillery. At this period the strength of the battalion amounted to 800 rank and file, having received some recruits from foreign corps at the Cape. The troops were to be commanded by Brigadier-General William Carr Beresford, afterwards Viscount Beresford. The battalion was embarked in line-of-battle ships and transports, and on the 14th of April the fleet sailed from Table Bay, directing its course to the westward until the 20th, when, in consequence of unfavourable weather, and having parted company with one of the transports in which were three companies of the Seventy-first, the signal was made to rendezvous at St. Helena, at which island the fleet arrived on the 30th of April, with the exception of the missing transport. Here the force under Brigadier-General Beresford received an augmentation of 200 men from the St. Helena Regiment, making a total of 1,087 rank and file. On the 2nd of May the fleet sailed from St. Helena, and after a tedious voyage arrived at Cape St. Mary at the entrance of the Rio de la Plata, on the 8th of June, where it met with the missing transport.