Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853.Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853.
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army. Dorset Regiment -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 39th (Dorsetshire) -- History
Cholera broke out among the European troops at Bangalore about the
22nd of March 1833; and in the course of fire weeks the regiment
lost Captain Thomas Meyrick, four serjeants, forty-two rank and
file, two women, and eleven children. Captain Meyrick had served
twenty-two years in the THIRTY-NINTH, fourteen of which he had been
adjutant of the regiment.
In consequence of Lieut.-Colonel M^cPherson proceeding to England
on the 15th of December 1833, on two years’ leave of absence, Major
Poole became the commanding officer of the regiment.
[Sidenote: 1834.]
Early in 1834, the regiment was called upon to take part in
active field operations against the Rajah of Coorg. This prince,
a dependent ally of the British, had for some time excited the
attention of the government by a series of cruelties and oppression
towards his subjects, and had made open preparations to resist its
authority. Confiding in the natural difficulties of his country,
he presumed to defy the arm of British power, and encouraged
proclaimed rebels to take refuge in his jungles and mountains; he
finally reached the climax of misconduct, by the outrageous act of
arresting an accredited envoy from the government, who had been
sent to endeavour to re-establish amicable relations.
A field force, consisting of upwards of seven thousand men, was
formed and divided into four columns; the command of the whole
was assigned to Colonel Patrick Lindesay, C.B., who received the
temporary rank of Brigadier, and Captain John Douglas Forbes, of
the THIRTY-NINTH, was appointed deputy assistant adjutant-general
of the force.
The regiment was directed to furnish four hundred rank and file
to form the European force of the Eastern Column; and on the 17th
of March, the following detail, under the command of Major Thomas
Poole, marched from Bangalore in light service order:--
Field Offr. Captns. Subs. Staff. Serjts. Drms. Rk. & File
1 6 12 1 25 6 400
The column rendezvoused at Periapatam, within a few miles of the
hostile country, where final arrangements were made for the attack.
It having been decided that the column should move on two points,
it was divided into two divisions, and a part of the regiment
attached to each. On the 1st of April, the head-quarters,
consisting of four companies, with the part of the column under
the personal direction of the Brigadier, marched for Bedalapoor;
and Major Poole was nominated to the command of the Infantry
Brigade, while Captain Horatio Walpole succeeded to the charge
of that portion of the regiment. Captain Smyth, with the other
three companies of the regiment, remained with the division under
Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, of the East India Company’s service.
On the 2nd of April, the Cavery was crossed, and the Coorg country
entered by both divisions; the opposition made by the enemy was
trifling, and the casualties in the regiment were very few. Captain
Smyth and one serjeant were wounded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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