87th Regiment of Foot, the West Indies, 1796-1804.

Following the capture of Trinidad during the French Revolutionary Wars, Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Abercromby continued with his expedition against the Dutch, French and Spanish in the West Indies. The fleet sailed from Martinique on 8 April 1797, arriving two days later in St Kitt's. The only action for the 87th Regiment was in Puerto Rico where they landed on 18 April. Following the failure to dislodge the Spanish from their fortifications, the 87th re-embarked on 30 April, having lost two killed, three wounded and thirteen missing. The next landing was on St Lucia, captured from the French in May 1796, where the regiment remained before departing for Martinique in December 1799.

The 87th's next move was in April 1800 to Dominica where they remained for one year before embarking for Barbados in April 1801, and then on to Curaçao in August where they remained throughout 1802. From there the regiment sailed aboard the De Ruyter on 12 January 1803, bound for England, but due to bad weather called at Jamaica, Antigua and St Kitt's. Finally, after two months, they departed St Kitt's on 28 July 1804, and landed at Plymouth on the 28 September 1804.

The 87th Regiment had spent eight years in the West Indies 'having lost during that period, by the diseases incident to the climate, many officers, and between seven and eight hundred men'.