Historical Record of the Thirty-first, or, the Huntingdonshire Regiment of Foot;: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1850Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Thirty-first, or, the Huntingdonshire Regiment of Foot;: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1850
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 31st
Lieut.-Colonel Spence, after having commanded the regiment in every
action during this brilliant and glorious campaign,--at _Moodkee_
on the 18th of December, _Ferozeshah_ on the 21st and 22nd of
December, 1845, _Buddiwal_ on the 21st of January, _Aliwal_ on the
28th, and on the 10th of February, 1846, at the crowning victory at
_Sobraon_,--had now the satisfaction of embarking with it on board
the boats appointed to convey it to the port of Calcutta, where
the ships lay at anchor, which were engaged to carry the war-worn
veterans of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment to their native country.
On the 3rd of April Her Majesty was pleased to appoint
Lieut.-Colonel Byrne and Lieut.-Colonel Spence, of the THIRTY-FIRST
regiment, to be Companions of the Most Honorable Military Order of
the Bath, for their distinguished gallantry in the late actions on
the Sutlej.
In consequence of the particularly gallant conduct of Serjeant
Bernard M‘Cabe, Major-General Sir Henry Smith, in a letter dated
17th February, was pleased to recommend him for a commission, in
the following terms:--“This intrepid non-commissioned officer,
in the midst of a hand-to-hand conflict with the enemy, planted
the colour of Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment upon one of the
towers of the enemy’s intrenchments,--one of the most bold and
daring acts of a gallant soldier I ever witnessed, and which, I now
deliberately consider, tended much to shorten the struggle alluded
to. This serjeant is a young man of excellent character, and, if I
may be permitted to remind His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of
the promise made me almost in the heat of battle, it is,--‘_This
Serjeant shall be recommended for a commission_.’ I can only add
(which is unnecessary to the soldiers’ friend, Sir Hugh Gough)
that, if he receives a commission, it will be as gratifying to
me as was the gallant conduct I witnessed at the moment the
colour-head was shot off, and the flag perforated with balls, as he
triumphantly waved it in the air in the very midst of the enemy.”
This highly honorable testimony of the bravery of Serjeant
M‘Cabe at the battle of Sobraon, was supported by the strong
recommendation of General Lord Gough to His Grace the
Commander-in-Chief, and Serjeant Bernard M‘Cabe was appointed by
Her Majesty to an ensigncy in the Eighteenth, Royal Irish, regiment
of foot, on the 8th of May, 1846.
The details of the campaign on the Sutlej afford abundant proofs
of the skill and bravery of the troops: the highest praise is due,
and has been rendered by their admiring and grateful countrymen,
to the officers and soldiers by whose gallantry four battles were
fought, and victories obtained, in sixty days, over an enemy who
had most ample means of equipping and supplying his corps with all
the _matériel_ of war, and of choosing his own time and opportunity
of commencing his perfidious attack.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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