Upon the termination of the American War of Independence in 1783 the 3rd and 4th Battalions were disbanded for the second time, but were again raised in 1788 for the third time and dispatched to the West Indies. The 1st and 2nd Battalions at this period until 1797 were quietly stationed in Canada.
The 3rd and 4th Battalions in the West Indies took part in the following military operations at this period:
Capture of Nicaragua-Panama, 13th April, 1780.
Capture by assault of the island of Tobago, 17th April, 1793. Capture (2nd) of Martinique, 23rd March, 1794. Capture of Saint Lucia, 2nd April, 1794. Capture of Grande Terre Guadaloupe, 12th April, 1794. Capture of Saint Vincent, 9th June, 1796. Capture of Trinidad, 18th February, 1797. Attack on Porto Rico, 18th April, 1797. MARTINIQUE, 24th February, 1809.
Capture by 3rd Battalion. It will be seen that the Regiment at this period was closely identified with the ebb and flow of reverse and success in the conquest and re-conquest of the West Indian Islands. It was cursed with a perpetual and deplorable death rate due to disease, official negligence or ignorance, in the notoriously evil climate. Yet the spirit of the Regiment, the spirit of the original heroes of Louisburg, of Ticonderoga, of Quebec, of Bushey Run, and of Savannah still survived.
On 23rd August, 1797, Field-Marshal H.R.H. Frederick, Duke of York, was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment, vice Lord Amherst, deceased.