The Scots in Java, 1811-1816. An Episode from the History of the 78th Regiment of Foot (Ross-shire Buffs): The Storming of the Yogyakarta Court, 20 June 1812, and its aftermath
During the short-lived British interregnum regime in Java (1811-1816), a battalion (1,000 soldiers) of the 78th Highland (Scottish) Regiment of Foot (Ross-shire Buffs) took part in the British invasion force. They participated in nearly all the major military engagements of this period, including th...
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| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/archipel, |
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| Autors principals: | , |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicat: |
Archipel
2024
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| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | During the short-lived British interregnum regime in Java (1811-1816), a battalion (1,000 soldiers) of the 78th Highland (Scottish) Regiment of Foot (Ross-shire Buffs) took part in the British invasion force. They participated in nearly all the major military engagements of this period, including the 20 June 1812 storming of the Yogyakarta kraton. The events of that bloody operation and the contribution of the 78th Highland Regiment to its success form the core of this article. This describes how sharpshooters of the regiment’s two rifle companies overwhelmed the Javanese gunners on the kraton battlements, and how a junior officer, Lieutenant Henry N. Douglas (1787-1860), secured the person of the Sultan (Hamengku Buwono II) and escorted him to the Dutch fort, Vredeburg. The role of the Scots Assistant-Resident of Yogyakarta, John Deans (1786-1868), and his disfigurement of the body of the slain Yogyakarta army commander, Sumodiningrat (c. 1760-1812), in his private mosque in his residence to the south of the court is also mentioned. Following the close of hostilities, the Scots troops were the last to leave Yogyakarta (13 July 1812) and used the time to teach local Javanese troops the Scottish broadsword dance, later adopted into the repertoire of the two minor courts (Pakualaman and Mangkunegaran). During their subsequent garrison duties in East Java, the regiment lost its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel James Fraser (1766-1813), during a local uprising in Besuki in the Oosthoek (Eastern Salient), and later participated in the campaigns against Bali Buleleng (May 1814) and Bone in South Sulawesi (June 1814). By the time the regiment eventually returned to Scotland in late 1817, only 400 out of the 1,062 troops which had sailed from Madras (Chennai) in early May 1811 were still alive, most having succumbed to tropical diseases in their unhealthy barracks in Surabaya, Batavia (Weltevreden) and Cimanggis (Depok). |
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