Existing military plans relied on local men to provide supplies and transport for the British Army overseas, which proved to be inadequate.

In 1799, Sir Ralph Abercromby led a British expedition into North Holland to break the French hold on the strategically important Scheldt estuary.

Due to the success of Abercrombie's expedition, the Royal Wagon Train of five Squadrons was reinforced by a further seven Squadrons/troops and Hamilton was promoted to Major General.

[2] It was more sophisticated than the existing transport used by the Army Medical Department and was able to ferry many of the wounded, injured and sick to safety in large convoys.

However, the convoys were limited by the technology of the age; wagons were prone to breakdown and often unable to cope with rough and tortuous terrain of the battlefield and lines of communication.

[1] The Train was heavily involved in the Peninsular War, supporting Sir Arthur Wellesley's forces as they sailed from Ireland to retake the French naval base at Lisbon in 1808.

[1] By 1810, newly ennobled Viscount Wellington had ordered the construction of the Lines of Torres Vedras; a series of secret forts that repelled an offensive by French commander André Masséna.

[1] No person can be more impressed than I am of the absolute necessity of a corps of the description of the Royal Waggon TrainA prolonged peace followed for Britain, until the beginning of the Crimean War in 1854.