[2] On his arrival at Madras, Charles Best took the field with a detachment of the two above-mentioned corps, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Wangenheim, and joined the British army under Major-General Stuart, then before Cuddalore, in the beginning of June, 1783.
Captain Best was present at an affair in December, near Raudwyk, when a party of the enemy had passed the Waal, and surprised a detachment guarding a strong battery in the night; but which was retaken by the allies.
He was next present at a battle near Donawert (10 June 1795), when the French succeeded in crossing the Waal, on the ice: the allies retreated to the Rhine, and a severe skirmish took place at Velp, near Arnhem, in the same month.
[4] The Prussians having made a separate peace with France in April, 1795, the Hanoverians also retreated, but remained in Münster and Osnabrück to the end of the year, and returned to Hanover in December 1795.
[5] In 1803, when the Electorate of Hanover was taken possession of by the French, and most of the military re-assembled under the British banners, this officer was gazetted brigadier-major to the Kings German Legion (KGL), 15 September 1804; and in February following, appointed to a majority in the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion He embarked in September 1805, for Germany, under the orders of Major-General George Don, and afterwards under Lord Cathcart; he disembarked in the Elbe river in November, and re-embarked in February 1806, at Cuxhaven, after the battle of Austerlitz, and was sent to Ireland, where he remained until May, 1807, when he embarked with the 2nd Light Battalion at Monkstown, and sailed for England.
He next sailed with the expedition for Zealand, and landed in Kioge Bay: he commanded a detachment of the troops that marched for Copenhagen, and on 26 August drove in the out-post, and took possession of part of the suburbs of that city, which afterwards greatly facilitated the operations of the besieging army.
Major Best was present and assisted in the whole of the siege of Copenhagen, and afterwards received the thanks of Parliament, along with the army, as commanding officer of the 2nd light Battalion.