Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/348

 Campbell

the army on 28 Dec. 1787 as an ensign in the 77th regiment, having obtained his commission by raising twenty men, and sailed for India in the spring of 1788. He joined the army in the Bombay presidency under the command of Sir Robert Abercromby at Cannanore, and was perpetually engaged with that western division throughout the campaigns of 1790, 1791, and 1792, and was present at the first siege of Seringapatam, by Lord Cornwallis, in 1792. In 1791, in the midst of the campaign, he was promoted lieutenant and made adjutant of his regiment, in which capacity he served at the reduction of Cochin in 1795 and of the Dutch factories in Ceylon in 1796. In 1799, on the breaking out of the second Mysore war, Campbell was appointed brigade-major to the European brigade of the Bombay division, which advanced from the Malabar coast, and was present at the battle of Seedaseer and the fall of Seringatapam. For his services he was promoted captain into the 67th regiment, and at once exchanged into the 88th Connaught Rangers, in order to remain in India, but his health broke down and he had to return to England. Wellesley had, however, observed Campbell’s gallant conduct at Seringapatam and his usefulness as a staff officer, and he was in consequence made brigade-major in the southern district, and on 14 Sept. 1804 promoted major into the 6th battalion of reserve, then stationed in Guernsey. On its reduction in 1805 he was transferred to the 71st Highland light infantry, and generally commanded the second battalion in Scotland and Ireland for the next three years. In June 1808 he joined the first battalion of his regiment under Pack, and served at the battles of Rolica and Vimeiro, and throughout Sir John Moore’s advance into Spain and his retreat on Corunna.

In 1809 he was, on Wellesley's recommendation, one of the officers selected to accompany Marshal Beresford to Portugal to assist him in his task of reorganising the Portuguese army, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 16 Feb. 1809. He commanded the 6th Portuguese regiment with Beresford's high approval (Wellington Supplementary Despatches, vi. 346), and as colonel he was present at the battle of Busaco, and in 1811, as brigadier-general commanding the 6th and 18th Portuguese regiments, was engaged at Arroyo dos Molinos and in the battle of Albuera. In 1813 Campbell received the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword, and his brigade was ordered to form part of an independent Portuguese division under the command of Major-general John Hamilton, attached to General Hill's corps, and under that general he was present at the battles of Vittoria, the Pyrenees, the Nivelle, when he was mentioned in despatches, and the Nive, and was afterwards attached to Sir John Hope's corps before Bayonne, where he remained until the end of the war. On the declaration of peace he received a gold cross and one dasp for the battles of Albuera, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, the Nivelle, and the Nive, was knighted, promoted colonel in the army on 4 June 1814, and made an aide-de-camp to the prince regent, and in January 1815 he was made a K.C.B. In 1816 he was made a Portuguese major-general, and commanded the division at Lisbon. In 1820, during the absence of Lord Beresford, he offered to put down the rising at Oporto, but his services were declined; he at once threw up his Portuguese commission and returned to England.

On arriving in England he was, in 1821, appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 38th regiment, which he joined at the Cape and took to India, where he was stationed at Berhampore. He was soon after nominated to command the expedition against the Burmese. He arrived at Rangoon in May 1824 at the head of 11,500 men, including four British regiments, and at once took Rangoon. His first attack on the great Dagon Pagoda, at Kimendine, was repulsed with loss on 3 June, and he had to take the command in person; under his personal directions the Pagoda was stormed on 10 June 1824. In July he detached a force under Colonel H. F. Smith, C.B., to Pegu, which stormed the Pagoda at Syriam on 4 Aug., and the heavy rains then put an end to further operations, and caused much disease among the troops. He wrote earnestly for reinforcements during the winter months of 1824-5, for in November 1824 he was beseiged in Rangoon by the ablest Burmese chief, Maha Bundoola. He was joined by the 47th regiment and two brigades of sepoys and after storming the stockade of Kokein on 16 Dec., he left Rangoon on 11 Feb. 1825 and marched along the banks of the Irrawaddy towards Prome, accompanied by about forty gunboats under Commodore Chads and Captain Marryat. On 7 March the advanced brigades, under Brigadier-general Cotton, were utterly defeated in an attack on the stockades of Donabew, but Campbell at once moved to the front, and directed a fresh attack on 1 April, which was entirely successful, and Maha Bundoola was killed. He entered Prome on 5 May 1825 and established his headquarters there for the rainy season, and again lost no less than one-seventh of his forces between May and September. Towards the close of the rainy season Campbell, who had been pro-