On the 2nd of November 1805, the first battalion embarked from Guernsey, and proceeded to Portsmouth. The first battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment embarked at Portsmouth on the 23rd of July 1806, and proceeded to Plymouth, where it disembarked on the 6th of September following. On the 12th of that month it embarked for South America, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Edward Butler; the effective numbers were, fifty-three serjeants, eighteen drummers, and eight hundred and five rank and file.[7] [Sidenote: 1807.] The first battalion arrived in the Rio de la Plata in January 1807, and disembarked on the 16th of that month near _Monte Video_, where it took up a position in advance, protecting the breaching batteries, it having been arranged between Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty and Rear-Admiral Stirling to lay siege to the place. The piquets of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH, under Major Miller, were attacked by the Spaniards, who were defeated with great loss. On the 3rd of February, a practicable breach being made, the troops proceeded to storm the town, which was carried, and the citadel soon afterwards surrendered. The EIGHTY-SEVENTH, under Lieut.-Colonel Sir Edward Butler, had three officers and sixty men killed, and three officers and eighty men wounded: total, one hundred and forty-six; strength in the field, seven hundred and eighty-eight. _Killed._ _Captain_—Charles Beaumont. _Lieutenant_—Hugh Irwine. _Surgeon_—Wilde. _Wounded._ _Captain_—John Evans. ” R. McCrea. _Lieutenant_—W. Boucher. In the public thanks issued by Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty, the regiment is thus mentioned:— “The EIGHTY-SEVENTH, under Lieut.-Colonel Sir Edward Butler, were equally forward; and to their credit, it must be noticed, that they were posted under the great gate, to rush into the town when it should be opened by the troops, who entered at the breach; but their ardour would not allow them to wait; they scaled the walls, and _opened themselves a passage_. (Signed) “T. BRADFORD, “_Dep. Adjutant-General_.” The EIGHTY-SEVENTH subsequently received the royal authority to bear the words “MONTE VIDEO” on the regimental colour and appointments in commemoration of the gallantry evinced in the capture of that place on the 3rd of February 1807.