The Battle of Minden was fought during the years represented by that gap, and the difficulties to be overcome in tracing the identical companies of the Royal Artillery which were engaged can only be realised by the reader, who has himself had to burrow among old records and mutilated volumes. The main purpose in this history being to strengthen the _Battery_ as well as the _Regimental esprit_, it was of the utmost importance that the Companies, which did so much to decide the contest on that eventful day, should be discovered with certainty, for the sake of the existing Batteries who are entitled to their glory, by virtue of succession; and—to make certain that no hasty conclusions have been arrived at—it has been thought desirable to give the data on which they have been based. Minden was fought in 1759. Fortunately, a fresh distribution of the companies in the two existing Battalions took place in the preceding year; and the names of the officers in each company are given at length in Cleaveland's MS. notes. Now three companies are known to have been present at Minden. Of one, Captain Phillips', there is fortunately no doubt. It was then No. 5 Company of the 1st Battalion; and after long and glorious service became on the 1st July, 1859, No. 7 Battery, 14th Brigade, when that change in the nomenclature of the companies took place, which is always baffling the student. On the 1st January, 1860, the exigencies of the service required yet another christening, and it became, on transfer, No. 4 Battery of the 13th Brigade, which it now is. This Battery was undoubtedly present at Minden. The tracing of the other two companies is not so easy. It is on record that one was commanded by Captain Cleaveland. In 1758, this officer was in command of No. 2 Company of the 2nd Battalion, but in the winter of that year he exchanged with Captain Tovey, of the 1st Battalion, and almost immediately marched with his new company to join the Allied Armies on the Continent. This was then No. 4 Company of the 1st Battalion; and as Captain Cleaveland exchanged into it on the 30th October, 1758, and was in Germany with his Company in the beginning of December, (no second exchange having taken place,) there can be little doubt that another of the Companies at Minden was No. 4 Company of the 1st Battalion, now designated No. 3 Battery of the 5th Brigade.