Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/129

 Sultaun's lines and camps in the island of Seringapatam. In 1793, he commanded a brigade of Europeans, and was present at the siege of Pondicherry. He received a colonelcy in 1795. In October 1797, he embarked at Madras with his regiment for Europe; in December, when he arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, he was appointed Brigadier-general, and placed on that staff, in command of a brigade. June 18, 1798, he was appointed Major-general, and returned to the staff in India. In January 1799, he arrived at Madras, in command of two regiments of foot, together with the drafts of the 28th dragoons. May 4, he commanded the storming party at that distinguished action, the assault of Seringapatam; when, in requital of his brilliant services, he was presented by the army, through the Commander-in-chief, with the state sword of Tippoo Sultaun, and also with a dress-sword from the field-officers serving under his immediate command at the assault.

The eminent merit of Brigadier-general Baird was now fully known and acknowledged by the government at home. He was therefore, in 1800, appointed to the command of an expedition against Batavia, but which was afterwards sent to Egypt. He landed at Coseir in June, crossed the desert, and, embarking on the Nile, descended to Grand Cairo; whence he set out for Alexandria, which he reached a few days before it surrendered to General Hutchison. Next year he led the Egyptian Indian army overland to India, where he was concerned in various military transactions. His services, however, being soon after superseded by Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards the illustrious protector of Europe), he sailed for Britain with his staff, March 1803, and after a tedious voyage, during which he was taken prisoner by a French privateer, but afterwards retaken, he arrived in England in November.

Sir David Baird was received at the British court with great distinction. In December, he received the royal permission to wear the Turkish order of the Crescent. In June, 1804, he received the honour of knighthood; and on the 18th of August following became a knight companion of the Bath. With the increased rank of Lieutenant-general, he commanded an expedition which sailed in October 1805, for the Cape of Good Hope. Landing there, January 6, 1806, he attacked and beat the Dutch army, and on the 18th received the surrender of the colony. Being recalled, he arrived in Britain, April 1807, and was shifted from the colonelcy of the 54th, which he had held for some years, to that of the 24th, and placed on the foreign staff under General Lord Cathcart. He commanded a division at the siege of Copenhagen, where he was twice slightly wounded; and returned with the army in November.

After a short period of service in Ireland, Sir David sailed in command of an armament of 10,000 men for Corunna, where he arrived in November 1808, and formed a junction with the army under General Sir John Moore. He commanded the first division of that army, and in the battle of Corunna, January 16, 1809, he lost his left arm.

By the death of Sir John Moore in this action, Sir David succeeded to the chief command, and had the honour of communicating intelligence of the victory to government. On this occasion, he received for the fourth time in his life the thanks of parliament, and, April 13, was created a baronet, with very honourable armorial bearings allusive to the transactions of his life. After this period, he never again appeared in active service. In 1810, he married Miss Preston Campbell, of Ferntower and Lochlane, Perthshire, by whom he left no issue. In 1814, he was promoted to the rank of General, and in 1819 became governor of Kinsale in Ireland, and in 1827, of Fort George in the north of Scotland. This brave veteran died at an advanced age, August 18, 1829, at his seat of Ferntower in Perthshire. His lady, who survived him till 1847, erected