The World Turned Upside Down - His Majesty's 17th Foot.

In 1688, King James II ordered the raising of several new regiments to strengthen his weakening grip on the throne and the Seventeenth Regiment was part of the new levy, being raised in London and its immediate vicinity, and with the colonelcy conferred on Solomon Richards, by a commission dated the 27th of September, 1688.

King James II of England (1633-1701) - Peter Lely
King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from February 1685 until he was deposed in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. The last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland, his reign is remembered primarily for conflicts over religion.

Colonel Solomon Richards was a professional soldier who fought in Ireland first for Cromwell and then for William of Orange, and is best known for his part in a failed attempt to relieve the Siege of Derry in 1689, which led to Richard's dismissal and his replacement by Colonel George St George

The efforts to procure men for completing the ranks of the regiment were a great success, and in three weeks after the letter of service for its formation was issued, it was embodied, armed, and clothed; being composed to a great extent of men who had entered the army at the augmentation in 1685, and had been discharged after the suppression of the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, however, it quickly went over to James’s rival and son-in-law, William of Orange.

 

The regiment embarked for Flanders in 1693 for service in the Nine Years' War and took part in the attack of Fort Knokke in June 1695 and the siege of Namur in summer 1695 before returning home in 1697.

In 1701 the regiment moved to Holland for service in the War of the Spanish Succession and fought at the siege of Kaiserswerth in 1702, the siege of Venlo later that year and the capture of Huy in 1703. It was then transferred to Portugal in 1704 and took part in the sieges of Valencia de Alcántara, Alburquerque and Badajoz in 1705 as well as the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in 1706. It also saw action at the Battle of Almansa in April 1707 before returning to England in 1709.

The Battle of Almansa, 25th April 1707 - Ricardo Balaca.
The 17th Foot saw extensive service in the 'First Peninsular War' culminating in its participation in the Battle of Almansa fought between an army loyal to Philip V of Spain, Bourbon claimant to the Spanish throne, and one supporting his Habsburg rival, Archduke Charles of Austria, with the result a decisive Bourbon victory that reclaimed most of eastern Spain for Philip. Almansa is probably the only battle in history in which the English forces were commanded by a Frenchman, the French by an Englishman.

In spring 1713, the regiment was ranked 17th in seniority, and was sent to Scotland to suppress the Jacobite rising of 1715 and fighting at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715, during which the 17th suffered seven men killed and five wounded.

A soldier of the 17th regiment (1742)

In 1726 the regiment moved to Menorca, assisting the garrison at Gibraltar during its siege in 1727, remaining on duty in the Balearic Islands until 1748, when it moved to Ireland.

On the 1st July 1751 a royal warrant assigned numbers to the regiments of the line, and the unit became the 17th Regiment of Foot.

The regiment embarked for Nova Scotia in 1757 for service in the French and Indian War; fighting at the siege of Louisbourg in June 1758, at the Battle of Ticonderoga in July 1759, and in the following year, took part in the successful three-pronged attack against Montréal in September.

It also saw engagements in the West Indies in 1762 and during Pontiac's Rebellion before assignment to Ireland in 1763 and then a return to England in 1767.

The 17th Foot in America 1776-1783

After the outbreak of hostilities at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the regiment embarked on the 23rd of September 1776 bound for Boston from Ireland. Rough seas saw its companies separated, with its first four companies landing in November, and the remaining six on the 1st January 1776.

A private soldier of the 17th Foot - Don Troiani
A likely representation of the look of the 17th Foot when it landed in Boston in November 1775 and January 1776 dressed as per the Royal Warrant of 1768. When General Howe reorganised British troops at Halifax, his reforms, drawing on his personal experience of warfare in North America, would see not only a new open order, two deep line drill ordered, but uniforms with cut down coats, cocked hats turned down and turned up on the left side, whilst trousers and half gaiters replaced breeches, and blanket rolls replaced knapsacks.

Along with the rest of the garrison, the regiment was evacuated after the Siege of Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and it was at this time, Lieutenant-Colonel John Darby was superseded by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Mawhood, formerly Lieutenant-Colonel of the 19th Regiment of Foot, on April 4th, 1776.

The regiment set sail from Halifax with the army on June 29th for the invasion of New York, landing unopposed on Staten Island in July, and seeing action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, as part of 4th Brigade under Major General James Grant with a strength of 307 men all ranks, suffering the loss of Captain Sir Alexander Murray and two rank and file killed; and Lieutenant Marcus A. Morgan, one serjeant, and nineteen rank and file wounded. 

The Americans quit their fortified lines at Brooklyn and passed over the river to New York, and the conquest of Long Island by British troops was completed; and the 17th Regiment was involved in the later operations by which the capture of New York was accomplished, being part of the reserve at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 and the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776.

A Contemporaneous view drawn by British officer Thomas Davies of the attack against Fort Washington on November 16, 1776 by British and Hessian brigades. The depiction shows artillery fire on the fort and redoubts as well as several boats of soldiers in the river. The New Jersey Palisades and the Hudson River are also shown in the background.

The regiment was part of the force that marched into the Jerseys, and was stationed at Brunswick, and subsequently at Princetown.

The Heroes of Princeton

During the winter, General Washington suddenly passed the Delaware river, and surprised and made prisoners a corps of Hessians at Trenton, and afterwards made a precipitate retreat. 

Being reinforced, he again passed the river, and took up a position before Trenton, to which. Major-General the Earl Cornwallis advanced with a division of British troops, and, driving the Americans back to Trenton, forced them through the town to their positions on the south bank of the Assunpink River; following which attempts were made that evening by the British to cross the creek and force the American lines, but in the face of stiff resistance the crossing was postponed to the morning.

Assunpink Creek, 1777 - Original Painting by Graham Turner 
American officers deploy their forces at Assunpink Creek in the gathering darkness on January 2nd, 1777, while British forces probe their defences.

On the evening of 2nd January 1777, General Washington resolved to move before his army was attacked and overwhelmed the next day, and in the middle of the night, the Americans left fires burning and marched off to the east and then to the north towards Princeton. Light infantry led the American column, followed by Brigadier Hugh Mercer’s brigade. The road was a new one and led through dense woods curving round the river and to the North. As the troops marched a cold wind set in, freezing the muddy roads and aiding movement.

The Battle of Princeton, 3rd January 1777 -  map by John Fawkes.

At dawn that day, a British force set out from Princeton to march to Maidenhead and join General Leslie, comprising the 17th Foot, the 55th Foot and a troop of the 16th Light Dragoons, the 40th Foot being left at Princeton, all commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Mawhood. In the early morning mist the British mistook Mercer’s Americans for Hessians and then for a small party of Americans they assumed must be fleeing from Cornwallis.

Realising his error, Mawhood attempted to position his force in an orchard and a fierce fight developed around the orchard against the Americans who had already occupied it. Each side brought two cannon into action. Mawhood ordered a bayonet charge, and because many of the Americans had rifles, which could not be equipped with bayonets, they were overrun. 

A mixed force of British troops break out of the tightening circle of Americans during the battle of Princeton on January 3rd 1777 - Graham Turner

Both of the Americans' cannons were captured, and the British turned them on the fleeing troops. Mercer was surrounded by British soldiers, and they shouted at him, "Surrender, you damn rebel!"  Declining to ask for quarter, Mercer chose to resist instead. The British, thinking they had caught Washington, bayoneted him and then left him for dead, and Mercer's second in command, Colonel John Haslet, was shot through the head and killed.

The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 - John Trumbull
The picture displays several events at the Battle of Princeton. At the centre, American General Hugh Mercer, with his horse beneath him, is mortally wounded. At the left, American Daniel Neil is bayoneted against a cannon. At the right, British Captain William Leslie is shown mortally wounded. In the background, American General George Washington and Doctor Benjamin Rush enter the scene

Seeing Cadwalader’s brigade of 1,100 militiamen coming up, Mawhood fell back to the support of his guns and with their discharges of grape shot dispersed the advancing Americans; however, the rest of the American army was brought up and the regiment quickly found themselves surrounded. 

Captain the Honourable William Lesley,
17th Foot, killed at Princeton.

With superior enemy numbers, the regiment was forced to retreat, and Mawhood ordered a desperate bayonet charge to break out of their encirclement, which succeeded, whilst at the same time, Captain William Scott of the 17th Regiment, with just 40 men, successfully defended the 4th Brigade's baggage train against superior numbers of enemy attackers. 

Thomas Sullivan of the 49th Regiment of Foot remarked:

"He formed his men upon commanding ground, and after refusing to deliver the Baggage, fought with his men back-to-back; and forced the Enemy to withdraw, bringing off the Baggage safe to Brunswick."

His performance in the battle was mentioned in dispatches, and later, the regiment was lauded as "The Heroes of Prince-town" in British recruiting adverts.

Casualties were not heavy. The British lost only 40 dead, that included Captain the Honourable William Lesley, 58 wounded and 187 missing. The Americans lost a number of able officers: General Mercer, Colonel Haslet and several others. They also lost 40 soldiers killed and wounded.

Later that year the 17th Foot would go on to fight at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777 as part of General Charles 'No Flint' Grey's 3rd Brigade with 233 all ranks, 

The 17th Foot would go on to fight at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777 as part of General Charles 'No Flint' Grey's 3rd Brigade with 233 all ranks.

The regiment was also present at the Battle of Germantown in October 1777, taking part in the British counterattack against Major-General John Sullivan's Maryland Division, during which Ensign Nathaniel Philips and four rank and file of the regiment were killed, and three serjeants and twenty-one rank and file wounded.

The 17th Foot in action at the Battle of Germantown, October 4th 1777.

The following year, the 17th Foot alongside the 15th, 42nd (Highland) and 44th Foot, as part of 3rd Brigade would be at the Battle of Monmouth, 28th June 1778, after a winter spent in quarters in Philadelphia, and in the spring of 1778 supplying several detachments, which ranged the country in various directions to open communications for obtaining provisions. 

The regiment took part in the march of the army from Philadelphia, through the Jerseys, in order to return to New York; and its flank companies were engaged in repulsing the attack of the enemy on the rear of the column, at Freehold, in New Jersey, on the 28th of June at the Battle of Monmouth, on which occasion Captain William Brereton, commanding the grenadier company, was wounded.

In September 1778, the regiment took part in Grey's raid at New Bedford and Martha's Vineyard, destroying rebel stores and making off with forage and plunder.

Major-General Charles 'No Flint' Grey, 1st Earl Grey KB.

Grey, leading 4,000 troops, raided the towns of New Bedford and Fairhaven along with Martha's Vineyard, one of the first in a series of attacks executed by the British against American coastal communities.

A 1778 map annotated with the route of a raiding expedition against Massachusetts coastal communities in September 1778. The expedition was under the command of British General Charles Grey.
Points of note: A: Newport, Rhode Island, B: New Bedford and Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and 
C: Martha's Vineyard.

His troops destroyed storehouses, shipping, and supplies in New Bedford, where they met with light resistance from the local militia; they damaged fewer American holds at Fairhaven where militia resistance had additional time to organize. He then sailed for Martha's Vineyard, which was undefended, and between September 10th and 15th, its residents surrendered 10,000 head of sheep and 300 oxen, as well as most of the island's weapons.

The Battle of Stony Point in July 16th, 1779 

The 'hatmen' companies and the regimental colours were captured at the Battle of Stony Point in July 1779 by a daring night-time bayonet charge by "Mad" Anthony Wayne.

The British position at Stony Point was a fortified one, with the defences consisting of earthen fleches (cannon positions) and wooden abatis (felled trees sharpened to a point and placed in earthen embankments). 

Sir Henry Johnson, 1st Baronet, circa 1801 - Robert Dunkerton.

As Lieutenant Colonel, he assumed command of the 17th Foot on the 8th October 1778,

and would command the regiment at Stony Point and later in the South as part of Lord

Cornwallis's army, with Cornwallis having an indifferent opinion of Johnson, writing of him as "a wrong-headed blockhead"

Situated on a rocky elevation approachable only from the west, the defences were protected in the front by a watery defile and on both flanks by extensive swampy areas.

Stony Point was garrisoned by about 550 men, with elements of the 17th Foot (258 men, all ranks) under the command of Lt. Col. Henry Johnson, who replaced Mawhood in late 1778, reinforced by a grenadier companies belonging to the 71st Highland Regiment (177 men, all ranks), and a company-strength detachment of the Loyal American Regiment (68 men, all ranks). A detachment of the Royal Artillery (51 men, all ranks) manned sixteen field pieces that included two 24-pdr, two 18-pdr, four 12-pdr and one 3-pdr cannon, two 5.5-inch and two coehorn mortars and one 10-inch, and one 8-inch small howitzer; whilst a Royal Navy gunboat was assigned to protect the river approaches to the fortifications, and the armed sloop Vulture was also anchored in that part of the river.

Brigadier-General Anthony Wayne

For his service, Wayne was awarded a medal by Congress, 

one of the few issued during the war.

The position was stormed by the Continental Corps of Light Infantry formed on June 12th, with command assigned to Brigadier-General Anthony Wayne, an elite, seasoned combat organization drafted in each of the years between 1777 and 1781 from the light infantry companies of each regiment in Washington's army, and organized into a brigade of four regiments, (1-4th Light Infantry Regiments) each composed of two battalions of four companies, numbering around 340 men each supported by two light cannon and fifty men from Lee's Legion (McLanes' Troop) dismounted.

The Americans lost 15 killed and 83 men wounded, whilst the British suffered 20 killed, 58 missing, thought drowned trying to escape into the River Hudson, and 546 men made prisoners. A notable casualty from the 17th was Captain Francis Tew, killed by a rebel volley while leading his company in a bayonet charge to clear the enemy from the upper works.

The remaining companies of grenadiers and light infantry were detached to composite flank battalions, while the remaining men, drafts, and recruits from England were formed into the "17th Company" under Captain-Lieutenant George Cuppaidge, who was on business in New York during the action at Stony point. The 17th Company was tasked with fighting partisans in South Carolina in 1780.

While the 17th Company under Cuppiadge was fighting partisans in South Carolina, the bulk of the 17th Regiment was being exchanged from captivity and by early 1781, the regiment was entirely exchanged and on duty again in New York.

In April the 17th Regiment, now with 12 officers and 209 other ranks, was chosen as part of the last reinforcement to reach Lord Cornwallis. Consisting of the 17th, the 43rd, the 1st and 2nd Anspach Regiments, and detachments of light infantry, the 76th, 80th, Queen's Rangers, Loyal American, and Prince Hereditaire Regiments, along with the Anspach Artillery, the fleet sailed on April 29, 1781, under the command of Colonel de Voit.

17th Foot at Yorktown 1781.
Illustration by Alan Kemp - Great Battles, Yorktown, Almark.

They arrived at Portsmouth in late May, and the 17th stayed with the Anspach Regiments to garrison Portsmouth, under the command of General Leslie, while the remainder of the detachment joined Lord Cornwallis; and following the Battle of Green Spring, the 17th joined Cornwallis when he retired to Portsmouth and moved the army to Yorktown. On October 16th, 1781, the 17th Regiment once again marched into captivity with Cornwallis's army.

The British garrison at Yorktown, including the 17th Foot, surrenders, October 16th, 1781 - Keith Rocco

After being exchanged in 1782, the regiment was resupplied at New York and was on service there until the city was evacuated in 1783. After withdrawing from New York, the 17th Regiment became part of the Canadian garrison and was stationed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, until 1787, when the regiment returned to England.

The 17th Company fought in the last major action of the war on August 27th, 1782, near Beaufort, South Carolina, at Combahee Ferry, where the famous rebel Colonel John Laurens lost his life. 

A royal warrant dated 31st August 1782 bestowed county titles on all regiments of foot that did not already have a special designation "to cultivate a connection with the County which might at all times be useful towards recruiting", thus the regiment became the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot.

My 17th Foot are composed of the plastic British infantry from Perry Miniatures, Colours from GMB Designs and low profile sabots from Supreme Littleness Designs.

Next up, the 3rd Continental Division under Major General John Sullivan is complete with the inclusion of the German Battalion, sometimes referred to as the 8th Maryland Continental Regiment, to be showcased next together with my reinforced Canadian (Hazen's) Regiment, before work moves on to the Virginians of 2nd Division.

As always, more anon.

JJ