History of the Scottish Regiments in the British ArmyMurray, Archibald K.
History
History of the Scottish Regiments in the British Army
Murray, Archibald K.
Great Britain. Army -- History
the King’s forces, greatly strengthened by the arrival of fresh troops,
a second time advanced upon the enemy. Led by the Duke of Cumberland,
the advance soon assumed the character of a pursuit. At length the
rebels, overtaken and driven to bay, made a stand in the neighbourhood
of Inverness, on Culloden Moor, where, notwithstanding the fiery valour
of the clans, they sustained a total defeat, and were never afterwards
able to rally.
“For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight;
And the clans of Culloden are scattered in fight.
They rally, they bleed, for their kingdom and crown:
Woe, woe, to the riders that trample them down!
. . . . . . . . . .
’Tis finish’d. Their thunders are hushed on the moors!
Culloden is lost, and my country deplores.
. . . . . . . . . .
Culloden that reeks with the blood of the brave.”
Their Prince—
“Like a limb from his country cast bleeding and torn,”
for long lurked a wandering fugitive amongst our Western Islands, until,
through many dangers, he effected his escape to France. The Duke of
Cumberland, visiting with a cruel revenge the rebellious clans, nay, in
some cases, with barbarous heedlessness, mingling the innocent with the
guilty in a common ruin, tarnished the lustre of his success, and left
behind a most unenviable memory in these northern provinces.
The Rebellion being thus at an end, several of the regiments which had
been withdrawn from the Continent for its suppression now returned,
whilst the first battalion of the Royals was employed in several
descents upon the French coast with various success. At L’Orient the
attempt proved fruitless; but at Quiberon, sustained by the Forty-second
Royal Highlanders, the destruction of the enemy’s arsenal, stores, and
shipping, was attained. Subsequently the battalion joined the British
army in the Netherlands, and, in 1747, was greatly distinguished in the
heroic defence of Fort Sandberg. The attack on the part of the French,
was made late in the evening, with more than their wonted impetuosity.
The Dutch garrison, unable to withstand the shock, was signally routed,
and the conquest seemed complete, when the progress of the enemy was
unexpectedly arrested by the Royals, who, with unflinching obstinacy,
maintained the conflict, which proved of the most sanguinary and
desperate character. The horrors of the fight were deepened by the sable
pall of night. “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 their
opponents, who had sustained an equal or greater loss, until five
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