The morning light had already dawned upon this scene of conflict and carnage,--between three and four hundred officers and men of the ROYALS were _hors de combat_; yet the survivors,--though standing amidst the dying and the dead, and being unable to take one step without treading on a killed or wounded man,--maintained their ground with resolution, and continued to pour their fatal volleys upon the enemy, who had sustained an equal or greater loss, until five o'clock, when the ROYALS were relieved by the Highlanders; and the French, dismayed by the sanguinary tenacity of the defence, retreated.[96] In this desperate service Major Sir Charles Erskine was killed; Lieut.-Colonel Abercrombie, Lieutenants Forbes, Grant, Gordon, and Rutherford, with Ensigns Campbell and St. Clair, were wounded; and several of these officers afterwards died of their wounds: the battalion had also about four hundred non-commissioned officers and private men killed and wounded.[97] The fire of the French batteries being resumed with increased fury, Fort Sandberg was rendered untenable a few days afterwards, and the Dutch governor, General La Roque, having resolved to vacate the Fort and surrender the town of Hulst, the British brigade proceeded to Welshorden, where it was attacked by the French; but, having repulsed the enemy, it embarked in small vessels, and, sailing to South Beveland, went into cantonments on that island. The ROYALS appear to have remained in South Beveland some time, and they did not engage in any other military operation this year. [Sidenote: 1748] [Sidenote: 2nd Batt.] In the spring of 1748 the 2nd battalion of the ROYAL Regiment, having been withdrawn from Scotland, embarked for Holland, and joined the allied army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, at the camp near Ruremonde. Preliminary articles for a treaty of peace having been agreed upon, a suspension of arms took place. [Sidenote: 1749] [Sidenote: Both Batts.] After the conclusion of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the British troops were withdrawn from Holland, and both battalions of the ROYAL Regiment proceeded to Ireland, and were placed upon the Irish Establishment in 1749. [Sidenote: 1751]