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. 268
