Towards the end of April, 1781, the two divisions assembled
at Portsmouth, whence they embarked for India on the 12th of
June following, being then 973 strong, rank and file. Though in
excellent health, the men suffered so much from scurvy, in consequence
of the change of food, that before their arrival at Madras, on
the 2d of April, 1782, no fewer than 247 of them died. and out of
those who landed alive only 369 were fit for service. Their Chief
and Colonel died in August, 1781, before they arrived at St Helena,
to the great grief and dismay of his faithful followers, who looked
up to him as their principal source of encouragement and support.
His loss was naturally associated in their minds with recollections
of home, with melancholy remembrances of their absent kindred,
and with forebodings of their own future destiny and so strong
was this feeling impressed upon them that it materially contributed
to that prostration of mind which made them all the more readily
become the victims of disease. They well knew that it was on
their account alone that he had determined to forego the comforts
of a splendid fortune and high rank to encounter the privations and
inconveniences of a long voyage and the dangers and other fatigues
of military service in a tropical climate.
Pages:
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532