28th (North Glouchestershire) Infantry

After I settled upon Fuentes de Onoro as the Napoleonic battle to be run at Historicon 2021, it became apparent that I needed more British troops! Fortunately, I had enough lead in the pile to field 3 additional infantry units; this unit is the first of those. 

The 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot was first raised in 1694. The regiment fought at the Battle of Elixheim, July 1705. It lost over half its men at the Almansa in Spain, on April 1707. The regiment saw action in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession and, was designated the 28th Regiment of Foot in 1751. It took part in the siege of Louisburg in June 1758, and fought on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec in September 1759 during the Seven Years War. Hmm, I see I missed some silver on the ensign's epaulette; that has been fixed now!

The regiment returned to North America in May 1776 and saw action at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 during the American Revolutionary War (I have lived the majority of my life within 15 - 60 minutes drive of White Plains, then a small village of about 500, now a small city of about 60,000). It also fought in the West Indies and helped take the French colony of St. Lucia in 1778, but was captured by the French on Saint Kitts in 1782 and interned until the end of the war. In 1782, renamed the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot as part of the reforms to create a territorial association for each regiment, it returned to Flanders following the outbreak of war with revolutionary France in 1793 and moved to the West Indies in 1795. A detachment remained in Gibraltar before being moved to Minorca in 1798.

In March 1801 the regiment formed part of the British expeditionary force that landed at Aboukir Bay to oppose Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. During the Battle of Alexandria (March 21, 1801), French cavalry broke through the British lines, formed up behind the regiment, and began to charge. Still heavily engaged to their front, the order was given "Rear Rank, 28th! Right About Face", and standing thus in two ranks, back to back, the regiment successfully defended itself. After the battle, the regiment began wearing a badge on the back as well as the front of the headdress to commemorate their action, a unique distinction in the British Army which was officially sanctioned in 1830. Looks like I need to add a rear shako plate to these fellows, eh?!

The regiment was sent to Denmark, and took part in the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807, under the overall command of one Sir Arthur Wellesley. The regiment was sent to Portugal in July 1808, and took part in the Battle of Corunna, 16 January 1809, before being evacuated from the Peninsula the following day. A detachment remained behind and fought at the battle of Talavera in July 1809. The remainder of the regiment went on to take part in the disastrous Walcheren Campaign in the summer of1809.

The regiment returned to the Peninsula in January 1810, and fought at the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811 Albuera in May 1811, and Arroyo doe Molinos in October 1811. It saw action at the Battle of Vittoria in June 1813, the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813, the Battle of Nivelle in November, the Battle of the Nive in December 1813, the Battle of Orthez in February 1814, and finally, the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. 

It was one of the few Peninsula veteran regiments which was available for the Hundred Days campaign and fought at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, as part of the 8th Brigade in June 1815. Because of its actions in the campaign, the regiment earned distinguished mention in Wellington's  dispatches. 

Their regimental color was laser printed from Napflag, and the regimental history is condensed from Wikipedia.