On the 20th of March 1809 the Royal authority was granted for the SEVENTY-FIRST to be formed into a _light infantry_ regiment, when it was directed that the clothing, arming, and discipline should be the same in all respects as the forty-third, fifty-second, sixty-eighth, and eighty-fifth regiments. The first battalion marched, on the 27th of April 1809, for Brabourne-Lees barracks, and was brigaded with the sixty-eighth and eighty-fifth light infantry regiments. Every exertion was here made to increase the strength and improve the discipline of the corps. In June the first battalion was increased by a large reinforcement, consisting of several officers and 311 non-commissioned officers and privates from the second battalion, which continued to be stationed in North Britain. Several volunteers from the militia were also received at this period. Immense preparations had been made by the British Government to fit out the most formidable armament that had for a long time proceeded from England. The troops amounted to 40,000 men, commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham; the naval portion consisted of thirty-nine ships of the line, thirty-six frigates, and numerous gun-boats and bomb-vessels, and other small craft, under Admiral Sir Richard Strachan. The object of the expedition was to obtain possession of the islands at the mouth of the _Scheldt_, and to destroy the French ships in that river, with the docks and arsenals at Antwerp. The first battalion of the SEVENTY-FIRST, towards the end of June, received orders to prepare for the above service, and marched, on the 28th and 29th of that month, in two divisions, encamping near Gosport. On the 16th of July the battalion, consisting of three field officers, six captains, twenty-seven subalterns, five staff, forty-eight serjeants, and 974 drummers and rank and file, embarked at Portsmouth on board His Majesty’s ships _Belleisle_ and _Impérieuse_, and towards the end of the month sailed for the Downs. The battalion was brigaded, under Brigadier-General the Baron de Rottenburg, with the sixty-eighth and eighty-fifth light infantry, in the division commanded by Lieut.-General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser, and in the corps of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B. The expedition sailed from the Downs on the 28th of July, and having arrived off the Roompet Channel, preparations were made for landing; small craft to cover the landing were also sent in shore, and the light brigade, composed of the sixty-eighth, SEVENTY-FIRST, and eighty-fifth light infantry, were landed under their fire. In an instant they were in contact with the enemy’s sharpshooters, who fell back, skirmishing. Being pushed hard, four guns, with their equipment, and several prisoners were taken by two companies of the SEVENTY-FIRST, under Captains George Sutherland and Henry Hall, and one company of the eighty-fifth regiment.