British Light Infantry in the 18th Century

FROM the year 1793 to the year 1798, as we have seen, light infantry units rose like bubbles to the surface of the British military cauldron to burst and disappear almost as soon as they were formed. The campaigns in France had shown the dire necessity of employing light troops to meet and hold back the Republican tirailleurs. Up to 1798, however, the British Government saw fit to rely on foreign Jägers rather than on raising a well-trained light infantry at home. In this year, affairs on the continent were reaching a climax; the successes of General Bonaparte during 1796-97, when he carried war all but to the gates of Vienna, had startled Europe into realising, if not the essential value of light troops, of their necessity to compete with the sharp shooters of France. This year, Cornwallis wrote to Arthur Wellesley: "The system of David Dundas and the total want of light infantry sit heavy on my mind." "Correspondence of Charles, 1st Marquis Cornwallis," Vol II, p. 333. At the same time we find General Viscount Howe, now an old man, once again bestirring himself; for, in 1798, he formed a brigade on the Essex coast for instruction in light infantry drill. For General Howe's system of training, see "The Diary of the Right Hon. William Windham, 1784-1810," p. 389, edited by Mrs. Henry Baring. This brigade consisted of a detachment of royal artillery, two troops of light horse, and two light companies. More important still than Howe's brigade, we find that, on January 12th of this year, a true battalion of light troops was raised, namely, the 5th Battalion the 60thRoyal Americans, which was formed from the debris of several foreign light corps such as Hompesch's Hussars, Fusiliers and Mounted Rifles and Lowenstein's Fusiliers and Chasseurs. Lowenstein's Chasseurs supplied the 5th Battalion the 60th with 500 men. This corps was raised by Prince Wertheim about 1793, and entered the British service in 1794. It was sent to the West Indies, 1795; was present at the reduction of St. Lucia and St. Vincent, and took part in the expedition against Porto Rico, 1796-7. Portions of this corps and Hompesch's served in Egypt and in Ireland in 1798. The men were chiefly Germans, they were dressed and equipped like Jaegers and armed with the rifle. In 1794 a battalion of the 60th, apparently the first, was officially armed with the rifle (Bouquet had used rifles experimentally in 1758. In 1801 a rifle company was added to the 2nd Battalion the 60th.) This new battalion was placed under the command of Colonel Baron Francis de Rottenburg, (De Rottenburg's gazetting reads as follows Lieut.-Colonel Francis Baron de Rottenburg, from Hompesch's Light Infantry, to be a Lieut.-Colonel. Commission antedated. December 30th, 1797) an experienced Austrian light infantry officer, and was sent to the Isle of Wight to carry out its preliminary training. Later Walstein's "Foreign Light Infantry " was added to it.

There is a certain amount of difficulty in verifying de Rottenburg's early history. In the preface of the English translation of Colonel von Ewald's "Treatise upon the Duties of Light Troops," published in 1803, we find mention of a work "peculiar to riflemen" accredited to a Colonel Rothemburg, who is apparently the same as de Rottenburg. The work mentioned as his is evidently the "Regulations for the Exercise of Riflemen and Light Infantry," written originally, as the preface states, by a "German Officer of distinction" and translated into English by command of the Duke of York. The preface of this work is signed by William Fawcet, Adjutant-General. Many editions of this book were published between 1798 and 1830. These Regulations do not bear the author's name, but, in spite of this, there seems little doubt that Francis de Rottenburg wrote, or more probably compiled them from French, Austrian and German sources, for several of its sections closely resemble those found in "The Rules and Regulations" of General Dundas which were admittedly based on General von Saldern's work; further, other sections closely resemble the ideas set forth by Guibert and de Pomps.

According to General Rigaud, de Rottenburg began his military services in the French Army, serving in the 77th Regiment of the line. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he left France and joined, for a short time, the Neapolitan Army; next he commanded a regiment of infantry and served throughout the wars between the Poles and Russians.

Further, General Rigaud writes: De Rottenburg instituted a perfect system of light drill, field exercise and evolutions of the army. "He used to say that he never flogged his men when in command of the 5th Battalion the 60th, but governed them in a patriarchal manner, more as a father would his children than as a commanding officer used to do in those days." "Celer et Audax. A Sketch of the Services of the 5th Battalion Sixtieth Regiment (Rifles) During the Twenty Years of their Existence," pp. 3-5. Major-General Gibbes Rigaud.

The 5th Battalion the 60th was sent to Ireland in April, 1798, and served with Sir John Moore in Wicklow and Wexford. In 1799, it went to Surinam under command of de Rottenburg; in 1803, to Halifax, returning to England in 1805, whence it was sent to Cork, in Ireland, in 1807.

Whilst in Ireland de Rottenburg was employed as a Brigadier-General at a camp formed on the Curragh, and later on at a camp at Ashford in Kent. ". . . He was the father of the light infantry of the British Army, and such fine regiments as the 68th, 71st and 85th . . . passed through his hands."

His skill as a light infantry instructor cannot be doubted when it is remembered how admirably his own unit - the 5th Battalion of the 6oth - conducted itself throughout the Peninsula War, winning no less than sixteen battle honours. The state of discipline of both officers and men in this battalion was of the highest order, and they one and all were typical members of the new school of war, the school which believed in intelligence in place of stolidity, in individuality in place of servility, and in initiative in place of rigid obedience. The Regimental Orders by Major Davy, who succeeded de Rottenburg in command of the battalion, issued on board the Malabar in Cork Harbour, June 27, 1808, just prior to the battalion sailing to the Peninsula, show better than any words of praise can how carefully officers and men were instructed and trained. The following are extracts from these orders:

"The true 'Rifleman' will never fire without being sure of his man. . .

"Interest and humanity both require the maintenance of a strict discipline. . . .

"It is the duty of every officer carefully to provide for the wants of his men. . . .

"The officers should endeavour to learn the capacities and characters of their men that they may employ them to the best advantage; this may be easily done by conversing with them, and hearing their opinion and sentiments on different subjects."

Skill, discipline, humanity and comradeship were the foundations of Baron de Rottenburg's training, which training may be looked upon virtually as the commencement of that system of training which under Sir John Moore at Shomcliffe produced a body of troops unsurpassed in all history.

REGULATIONS FOR THE EXERCISE OF RIFLEMEN

Colonel de Rottenburg's book on the Exercise of Riflemen deserves our careful attention, for, with the exception of the few pages in General Dundas's "Rules and Regulations," it is the first official work, published in England, which exclusively deals with light infantry training. The work was well known to General Money, for we find it mentioned by him in his "A Partial Reorganisation of the British Army," published in 1799, in which he states that he considered it a waste of time to publish a treatise on Light Infantry and Riflemen, since in the month of August, 1798, one was published, ". . . said to be written in German. No matter whether it had its origin in German or English, the author must have seen a great deal of service, for he has given admirable instructions for the training and disciplining such corps. Whenever Government may think proper to form them, his observations on an advanced guard, patroles, rear guards, and picquets, ought to be not only read, but most of them copied into the orderly books of our Infantry when going upon service; they ought to be read by every military man who has never seen actual service, nor will any officer lose by reading it."

Though short, Colonel de Rottenburg's work consists of a complete course of training. It is divided into two parts: Part I. dealing with the Exercise of Light Infantry, and Part II. with the Service of Light Troops in the Field. As was customary in those days, the employment of light infantry is dealt with almost exclusively from a defensive point of view, light troops being generally looked upon as the shield of the army and seldom as its sword. In this respect, Colonel von Ewald's work is superior to it, for he, from personal experiences gained on many battlefields and in many, skirmishes, showed what enormous offensive value skilfully led light troops possess.