A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



men were fit for service, their clothing was in rags, they had neither hats, 

 shoes, cartridge boxes, nor swords. 838 



The regiment received its number of the 38th Foot in 1751, and was 

 called the First Staffordshire Regiment in lySa. 839 



The long period of foreign service in the West Indies came to an end 

 in 1765, but the 38th was one of the first regiments to be sent to America 

 when war threatened. At the sanguinary combat of Bunker's Hill, out of 

 400 men present 150 were killed and wounded. 340 After sharing in the 

 victory at Brooklyn and the capture of Fort Washington, the regiment 841 

 was stationed chiefly at New York and in Nova Scotia, and so missed most 

 of the subsequent fighting, but the flank companies served at another capture 

 of Martinique and Guadaloupe in 1794, and the remainder of the regiment 

 shared in the disastrous retreat to Bremen. 



After fighting at the Cape of Good Hope and in South America the 

 38th went to the Peninsula, and was at Rolica, Vimiero, and Corunna, then 

 took part in the wretched Walcheren expedition, where it suffered dreadful 

 losses from disease, and after recovering its strength went back to the 

 Peninsula 842 and fought at Salamanca, Vittoria, San Sebastian, the passage of 

 the Bidassoa, Nive, Nivelle, and Bayonne, and in 1815 this hardworked corps 

 was summoned to join Wellington, but was too late for Waterloo. 



After service at the Cape, in the Burmese War of 18226, and in the 

 Ionian Isles, it served all through the siege of Sevastopol, including the 

 Alma and Inkerman, and greatly distinguished itself at the attack on the 

 cemetery in June, i855. 343 



In the Indian Mutiny it fought in many actions and suffered severe 

 losses at the capture of Lucknow, was in the Egyptian campaigns of 1882 

 and 1884-5, and served with gallantry in the South African War ; altogether 

 a splendid record. 



The next battalion in point of seniority is one now known as the first 

 battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment, formerly the 64th Foot, which 

 was formed in 1758 out of the then second battalion of the iith Foot, 841 

 which after being engaged in the capture of Guadaloupe in 1759, fought all 

 through the American War, but was not in the Peninsula or at Waterloo. 



The Persian War of 1856 then claimed its services, and thence the 

 regiment was hurried off to help in quelling the Indian Mutiny, suffering 

 considerable loss in the advance on Cawnpore under Havelock, Major Stirling 

 being killed at the head of the regiment. 845 



In 1793 was raised the present second battalion of the South Stafford- 

 shire, the old 8oth, by Lord H. Paget, nearly all the men coming from the 

 Staffordshire Militia, 846 and its first service was in the inglorious campaign of 

 the Duke of York in Flanders, where the regiment lost over half its strength 

 in the retreat to Bremen. 



On their way to join Abercromby in Egypt in 1801 part of the 

 regiment was wrecked, and another detachment was again wrecked on their 



38 Fortescue, Hist, of Army, ii, 565. 



39 Lawrence Archer, op. cit. 316. A second battalion of the regiment was formed during the 

 Peninsular War, which fought at Busaco and Badajoz, and was disbanded after the peace. 



40 Fortescue, op. cit. iii, 160. M1 Lawrence Archer, op. cit. 316. *** Ibid. 317. S4S Ibid. 318. 

 44 Fortescue, Hist, of Army, ii, 300. About the same time Pitt made the daring experiment of raising 



two regiments of Highlanders. S45 Lawrence Archer, op. cit. 449. 34e Ibid. 319. 



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