young soldiers he had formed, while 
he led them on to make their first 
charge against anenemy. Itis worth 
remarking, that when the battle of 
Maida was fought, hardly eighteen 
months had elapsed since the ‘batta- 
lion which so distinguished 
under his command, had been first 
passed as a regiment. 
After the evacuation of Calabria, 
colonel M‘Leod remained in Sicily, 
till a detachment of the army, in 
which the 2d battalion of the 78th 
was included, received orders to 
proceed to Egypt, and take posses- 
sion of Alexandria. In the second fatal 
/attempt upon Rosetta, this batta- 
lion of the 78th was employed ; and 
evinced, during that disastrous ex- 
pedition, the same steady courage 
and discipline, which they had dis- 
played on the plains of Maida. Col. 
M‘Leod commanded the advanced 
guard of the army, in its march from 
Alexandria ; and after dispossessing 
theenemy of the different posts which 
they occupied, drove them into 
_ Rosetta. While the rest of the army 
invested the town. He was dis- 
patched, with a small reinforcement, 
to the post of Et Hamed. The par- 
ticulars of the melancholy catas- 
trophe which followed, are not yet 
fully known to the public. But 
the detachment at El Hamed was 
overpowered and cut off; and col. 
M‘Leod fell during the action, 
fighting bravely at the head of his 
grenadier company; and making 
every possible exertion to extricate 
his small corps from the furious 
attacks of his numerous and barbar- 
ous assailants. 
Lieut. Col. M‘Leod’s Battalion. 
Orders, on board the Transports, 
previous to disembarking in Cala- 
bria, 29th of June, 1806. 
CHARACTERS. 
itself . 
919 
On Board the Valiant Transport, at 
Sea, June 29, 1806. 
As the battalion will, in all pro. 
bability, on disembarkation, have 
to act in the face of an enemy 4 
lieut. col. M‘Leod thinks it proper 
to state to all officers and non-com- 
missioned officers, the most essential 
points of their attention while so 
situated. It must be obvious to all, 
that the steady compactness of any 
body of men, while either halted or 
in movement, is that which makes it 
appear most respectable and most 
formidable to an enemy, as beiag, 
in that state, more prepared, either 
to make, or repel an attack ; while’ 
a body of men, in any degree sepa- 
rated or unconnected, gives advan- 
tages of an alarming pore to an 
active enemy. 
The only manner in which this 
principle can be sustained, amidst 
the hurry and bustle likely to take 
place on such an occasion, is by the 
animated exertion of the officers at 
the heads of companies, aided by 
their junior officers and non-commis- 
sioned officers, to preserve the most 
perfect compactness in their own 
cempanies, in every situation, inthe 
first instance ; and in the next, that 
connection with their companies on 
right and left, which secires the 
compactness of the battalion. 
Officers commanding companies, 
should therefore ntake their junior 
officers. and non-commissioned offi- 
cers perfectly familiar with the par- 
ticular duty that will be required 
from them on this occasion; and 
they should be so divided in the 
rear as to furnish the most effectual 
aid in securing instantaneous and 
implicit obedience to the orders of 
their commanding _ officer: they 
should, for this purpose, be fre- 
quently spoken to by their com- 
3N manding 
