[334, March 1814]

CHAPTER XXII

EANWHILE Sault had retreated by Tarbes, having determined to make his next stand at the fortified position of Toulouse. Misfortune had caused discontent in the French army, who behaved with so much violence on the retreat that their countrymen contrasted their conduct with the discipline of the Anglo-Portuguese, who paid for everything on the spot, and Soult wrote to his Minister of War that the population “appear more disposed to favour the invaders than to second the army.”  Many of the inhabitants, indeed, were in favour of the Bourbons and against the Government of Napoleon. In this state of affairs, Wellington had been able to detach 12,000 men to take possession of Bordeaux and retain it as a port for the Allies.

Information having been received that Soult was making a movement to his left and menaced the British right, Wellington made a corresponding move, and the 92nd left their quarters at Aire on the 13th of March and advanced on the road to Pau to a position near Garlin. On the 18th the battalion marched to Conchez, the enemy retiring on the approach of the Allies; on the 19th a skirmish took place at Vic Bigorre, and the enemy retired across the Adour. The battalion halted at night in front of Vic Bigorre. On the 20th, the French made a stand at Tarbes, and the Gordons hoped to celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Alexandria by a victory on the 21st; but after a combat in which Hill forced the passage of the, Adour, the enemy retreated under a cannonade from that general’s artillery. The nature of the country prevented a pursuit by cavalry, but the 92nd, with the other troops, continued to advance. At St Gaudens some French cavalry which were drawn up across the road were overthrown by the 13th Light Dragoons. The 92nd continued in pursuit by St Julien, constant rain impeding the operations till the 26th, when they halted at Muret. Next day Hill’s troops were withdrawn to St Roque, and saw no more of the French till they got within sight of Toulouse. The division crossed the Garonne by a pontoon bridge, after considerable delay in its construction, and proceeded to Miremont; and on the 1st of April they marched fifteen miles to Cintagabelle, in order to seize the bridge over the Arriege, the intention being to attack Toulouse on the south side, while Wellington assailed St Cyprien; but the state of the roads preventing the rapid movement of artillery, Hill wisely renounced the project and recrossed the Garonne at St Roque. Here the battalion stayed till the 5th of April, when it was put into a large and handsomely furnished mansion at St Simon, the inmates of which had fled. They staved in this comfortable situation till the floods which had obliged the British general to remain inactive [335, April 1814] had subsided, when, leaving Hill with two divisions to distract the enemy’s attention in that quarter by menacing the suburb of St Cyprien on the left bank of the river, Wellington, with the main body of his army, crossed to the right bank on the 9th. Having carefully examined the enemy’s position, which was admirably chosen and strengthened by field works, he gave the signal for battle at seven o’clock on the morning of the 10th of April. The 92nd advanced with Hill’s troops, who drove in the French outposts, and by a vigorous attack forced the first line of entrenchments covering St Cyprien, and menaced the second line, which was so very strongly fortified that it could not be stormed. For the rest of the day Hill’s troops could only remain spectators of the desperate battle which was being fought out on the opposite side of the river. They could see the dangerous flank march of Beresford’s Corps, the disastrous flight of Freyre’s Spaniards;[1] how Picton, notwithstanding his instructions only to engage the enemy’s attention by a feigned attack, impetuously turned it into a real one, and was beaten back from an impracticable redoubt with the loss of 500 killed and wounded, among the former being Colonel Forbes of the 45th, one of the original officers of the Gordon Highlanders. They could hear the roar of the guns and the shouts of the combatants when Beresford repelled the attack of Taupin’s Division, and observed the havoc made by the Congreve rockets,[2] seldom, if ever, used against infantry before. They remained an inactive but necessary part of the combination while their countrymen of the 42nd led the assault on Columbette, and gained it only to be overwhelmed, and driven out with enormous loss; re-forming, however, with other troops and declining to retire, Cole and Clinton’s Brigades came to their assistance and. the French were again forced back, fighting hard. The Columbette redoubt was taken by the 79th, and at 4 p.m. the Allies, at last successful at all points, had gained the bloodstained heights. Sault withdrew his troops within the second line of defence, and the allied forces fell on the retiring columns till stopped by the fire from the têtes-du-pont [336, April 1814] on the canal, behind which the whole French army was ranged. At the same time, Hill on the other side of the Garonne drove the enemy from their second line of defence within the old city wall, so that they were now entirely cooped up within the town of Toulouse.

In this terrible battle the Allies lost four generals and 4659 officers and soldiers killed and wounded, of whom 2000 were Spaniards. The French lost five generals and 3000 officers and men killed and wounded, and one piece of artillery.

The Gordon Highlanders, as we have seen, took but a small part in the fighting, though they assisted to seize and to hold a most important post, thereby having a material effect on the fortune of the day. Cannon’s Record does not mention any loss to the battalion, and the regimental returns of the time are lost. Sergeant Robertson says, “We had only a few wounded, of whom one died after his leg had been amputated.”  When medals were given to the survivors of the Peninsular War,[3] the men of the 92nd got the clasp for Toulouse, but it is not on the colours of the regiment.

After the battle the battalion went into cantonments. There was only a slight skirmish on the 11th, which was passed in getting up ammunition for the guns. The attack was arranged for daylight next morning, the 92nd being in orders for storming,[4] but Sault, feeling that Toulouse was no longer tenable, silently evacuated the city at night, and conducted the retreat with such ability that by daylight his troops were at Ville-Franche, twenty-two miles distant; he abandoned his magazines, and left his wounded to the humanity of the British. On the morning of the 12th, the 92nd, with the Second Division, was sent in pursuit; the troops were ordered to put bay-leaves in their bonnets and “chacos.”  At the gate of the city the Mayor presented the keys to Sir Rowland Hill, and many of the people mounted the white cockade, the royal colour of France. The battalion passed rapidly through the streets and along the road to Ville-Franche; hundreds of French soldiers, who were unable or unwilling to proceed, were taken prisoners, and after a long march the battalion was cantoned in a village near Ville-Franche. In the afternoon intelligence was received of the abdication of Napoleon.

At first Sault refused to consider the news authentic, and the outposts were on the point of engaging on the 17th, when, having received official information, he notified his adhesion to the new state of affairs. Had the express not been delayed on his journey by the French police, the battle of Toulouse would have been prevented. A disbelief of this intelligence also caused much [337, April 1814] unnecessary bloodshed at Bayonne, where the garrison made a desperate sortie on the night of the 14th of April. In repelling it Lieut.-General Sir John Hope (colonel of the 92nd), who commanded the British, was wounded and taken prisoner.

This was the last action of the Peninsular War. In memory of the part taken by the First Battalion 92nd, which was as distinguished as that of any battalion of the army,[5] the word “Peninsula” was, in 1816, added to the distinctions on the regimental colour.

Since the last campaign opened, about six weeks before, Wellington had driven the French, except the garrison of Bayonne, from the neighbourhood of that city to Toulouse, a distance of 200 miles, had conquered the whole country from the Pyrenees to the Garonne, had forced the passage of many rivers, defeated Napoleon’s best general in two pitched battles and several combats, and brought about a revolution in favour of the Bourbon dynasty at Bordeaux and Toulouse. Moreover, he had established such admirable discipline in his army, composed though it was of the troops of different nations, that but few instances of individual plunder had disgraced their steps. There was, consequently, an almost total discontinuance of punishment;[6] and so great was the confidence of the French peasantry that they even sought refuge in the British lines from the pillage of their own troops.[7]

And if Wellington compelled the admiration of the world as a commander, and his troops the respect of the French population by their moderation, “How,” says Scherer in his “Recollections of the Peninsular War,” “shall I picture the British soldier going into action?  He is neither heated by brandy, stimulated by hopes of plunder, nor inflamed by feelings of revenge; he does not even indulge in feelings of animosity against his foes; he moves forward confident of victory, never dreams of the possibility of defeat, and braves death with cheerful intrepidity.”  At that time there was no Victoria Cross, no medals were given to any below the officer commanding a battalion; subaltern and n.c. officers or soldiers were seldom, if ever, mentioned in dispatches—their reward for deeds of gallantry was found in the approval of their superiors and the cheers of their comrades. Many were, however, promoted from the ranks to commissions.[8]  In the Army List of 1814 no officer of the Gordon Highlanders is mentioned as having a medal except the colonel (Sir John Hope) and Lieut.-Colonel Cameron,[9] and the latter, though he had commanded his battalion throughout [338, April 1814] the war and a brigade in several actions, and been four times wounded, was only promoted brevet-colonel in the following June.

On the 20th of April the 92nd entered Ville-Franche, on the 24th marched to Besiege, and on the 25th occupied quarters in Toulouse.

A treaty of peace was made between Great Britain and France. Louis XVIII was placed on the throne of his ancestors, and Napoleon was given the Island of Elba for his residence.

At Toulouse all the inhabitants, except those who had been in Napoleon’s army, were very friendly to officers and men. As one of the latter remarked to me, “The Frenchmen were very kind to us and the French lassies forby!”  Provisions and wine were plentiful and cheap, so they lived very comfortably. Large hospitals were established by both nations for their wounded, and the Highlanders remarked that the British were the best cared for, till on the arrival of the Duc d’Angouleme, nephew to Louis XVIII, he ordered that the French should be carefully attended to, and not be seen sitting in public places asking alms of the passers-by.

The 92nd was appointed to furnish the Duke’s guard of honour while he remained; afterwards they were visited by the French Generals Sault and Suchet. Altogether their time .in Toulouse was most agreeable, and the hearts of some were with “the girl I left behind me” when the battalion marched for Bordeaux on the 5th of June. Indeed, a good many men of the army were induced by liberal offers of employment to take their discharge and settle in the country. One handsome private of the Gordons named M’Intosh, from Daviot, won the affections of a lady possessing a considerable estate, and his nephew, a forester in Forfarshire, remarked in relating his uncle’s good fortune, “An’ if they had bairns, I ‘m no a far awa’ cousin to a French laird.”

The battalion marched by Auch, where they were put in a barrack, the roof of which fell in, but no lives were lost; though some men were bruised. Here the Portuguese troops were ordered to return home. For nearly six years they had gallantly fought side by side with their British comrades, and the parting scene was very affecting, “more like the farewell between near and dear relation.”  The grief was heightened by an order that all the women who had followed the army from Portugal and Spain (“whether married or not,” says Sergeant Robertson) were to return with the troops belonging to their respective countries and to be rationed by the way. None of them were to be allowed to embark for England.

The battalion continued its march, suffering from the great heat, but enjoying the hospitality of the villages where they were [339, June 1814] billeted[10] till the 19th of June, when they encamped at Blanchfort, six miles from Bordeaux. They were allowed to visit the theatres and sights of this beautiful city when they liked. The 21st being the anniversary of Vittoria, every regiment in camp had a laurel tree planted beside its colours, and every soldier a sprig of laurel in his head-dress. The French authorities, though glad to be freed from Napoleon’s rule, objected to the celebrations of a victory over their countrymen; but the regiments sent a party from each, headed by its band, to the Commander-in-Chief, telling him that the men wished liberty to celebrate the victory they had gained, in their own way without hindrance. Permission to do so was granted, with particular orders, however, that they were to give no offence to the people by going near villages or farmhouses. There was no parade that day; dancing and other amusements were kept up with the greatest glee, and all forgot the hardships of the past in the enjoyment of the present, and the anticipation of being soon restored to home and kindred. In the case of several regiments, their hopes of home were disappointed; they were sent off to America, where war had broken out between Great Britain and the United States. There was some talk of the 92nd being of the number, but fortunately they were reserved for events of greater importance.

On the 9th of July the battalion marched, and encamped at Pouillac, and on the 17th it was conveyed down the Garonne in small craft and embarked in H.M.S Norge, 74 guns, which sailed at once and entered the Cove of Cork on the 26th of July. They disembarked at Monkstown on the 9th, and marched to Fermoy Barracks, where the thanks of both Houses of Parliament were communicated to the officers and soldiers for “the meritorious and eminent services which they had rendered to their king and country during the course of the war.”  Richly did the army deserve the thanks of their countrymen, who had long felt that their own and their children’s freedom depended on the result of the war, so that its glorious termination excited feelings of relief and joy among all classes which it is now hardly possible to realise. Wellington was, with the approval of the whole nation, raised to the rank of a duke; and among rewards to his generals, Sir Rowland Hill, under whom the 92nd had served so long, was created Baron Hill of Almaraz.

On the 6th of August the battalion was inspected by Sir W. Aylett, who expressed in Orders his great satisfaction at its appearance under arms, as well as its interior economy. The following [340, Aug 1814] morning state, dated Fermoy, August 7th, 1814-, shows that the prisoners of war had not yet rejoined.

 

The Order Book throws some light on regimental life of the time. A party of men from the different companies, in fatigue dress, went to market every morning at six o’clock under a subaltern, a piper attending “to play for them going and coming.”  The officer to report his return to the captain of the day, “who will inspect the bread and meat of the different companies and report as to its quality.” The commanding officer is displeased with the messing of certain companies. “They must always have potatoes and beer at dinner, as well as bread and other vegetables.”  “He considers it of the utmost consequence for the well-being of the regiment that no trucking or sutling by the n.c. officers among their companies is allowed.”  He requests “officers to pay as much attention to orders on dress as to those of higher importance.”  He observes that some wear the “heckle” feather turned over the bonnet, which is contrary to orders. Gaiters are never to be worn except when actually on the march. Officers may wear “stocking hose” (instead of hose tartan). They may ride out in the old regimental cap till they get the new pattern cap and feather. No officer when walking out is ever to appear otherwise than regimentally dressed, and is not to absent himself from barracks for more than two hours “without the commanding officer’s concurrence.” Officers to wear their jackets buttoned across at morning parade, but buttoned back “to show two or three button-holes of the facing and lace of the lappell” at mess and at evening parade. In summer the pibroch to sound at 5.30 for evening parade at six o’clock.

All letters of inquiry as to deceased soldiers, prisoners of war, etc., to be immediately answered by the officer commanding the company to which the person inquired for belonged, and all possible information given.

The change from French wine to Irish whisky was a bad one for some of the n.c. officers and soldiers, who probably agreed with the song that the taste of whisky improves with each glass— [341, June 1814]

Ol a h’aon, cha n’eil e math
Ol a dha, cha’n fhiach e,
Ol a tri, cha’n’eil e cli
‘Se’n ceathramh righ na riaghailte.[11]

 

The general “is sorry to remark the number of Courts-martial,” which he attributes to the large sums of money in possession of the men. It seems a pity that they had not been sent to Scotland, where their arrears of pay and prize-money might have been better spent among their friends at home, and a good impression of the service would have been given. “It is with extreme regret that Colonel Cameron finds himself under the necessity of putting the sentence on Sergeant Wylie into execution. He hopes that this will prove a warning to others, and that he will be saved the mortification of inflicting so humiliating a degradation on men who have served their king and country so long and so faithfully.”  Sergeant Wylie was reduced to the rank and pay of a private sentinel for being drunk on duty. Some time afterwards, however, the colonel “is induced to give Private W. Wylie another chance as a n.c. officer in consequence of his never having been absent in the rear during the war”; he is therefore appointed corporal.

While at Fermoy a large number of long-service n.c. officers and men were discharged to pension, also many seven years’ men who had served their time. Convalescents and prisoners of war rejoined from time to time. In September a draft arrived from the 2nd Battalion; and in October two captains and three lieutenants proceeded to Scotland to take charge of 12 sergeants, 13 drummers, and 160 rank and file transferred from the 2nd Battalion, which was disbanded at Edinburgh on the 24th of October. They took the colours of the 2nd Battalion with them to Fermoy.

 I will now give a short account, from the few records available, of the 2nd Battalion since it left Weely on the 29th of October 1804, and embarked at Liverpool for Ireland, having marched from Weely to Blisworth, one day doing 28 miles, and from Blisworth to near Liverpool, going by canal-boat. The first authentic information is a letter from Major Cameron, commanding at Birr, in the spring of 1806. From there they marched about the end of April to Dublin, where the Duke of Bedford was Lord-Lieutenant, and the Duchess, who was a daughter of the Duke of Gordon, took a lively interest in the regiment and paid great attention to the officers. There are letters from Her Grace asking that the band may play at the [342, April 1806] vice-regal parties, and also from the Marquis of Huntly, saying that his sister’s letters about the battalion give him very great pleasure.

In January 1807, the battalion got the route for Scotland, but to their great disappointment it was countermanded, and they remained in Dublin. The major writes, “Without going to Scotland the battalion can never hope to recruit 400 more men, as we are expected by Government to do.”

In June 1807, a draft of 100 picked men was sent to the 1st Battalion. In Dublin the major regrets the hard duty required of his men and the expense to his officers. A Highland gentleman is warned of the” shameful extravagance” of his son, whose mess-bill for drink alone amounted in five weeks to £3, which would not, I fancy, be considered a very large wine bill in the present day. In the end of June the battalion marched to Drogheda, “but we are to be stationed in seventeen different quarters. Weak as we are, this distribution is dismal.” In August they received volunteers from three Scottish militia regiments quartered in Ireland, and at a later date the major mentions that he had received that day from one Scottish militia regiment “43 as fine fellows as ever stept.”

Owing to a change of Ministry, the Duke of Richmond had succeeded the Duke of Bedford as Lord-Lieutenant. His Duchess was also a daughter of the Duke of Gordon, and was as proud of the Gordon Regiment as her sister of Bedford. Being on a visit at Slane Castle near Drogheda, the Lord-Lieutenant took the opportunity of reviewing the battalion, “the Duchess making a great work about them”; and she applied for two regimental bonnets, probably for her boys to wear. While at Drogheda, the battalion received much hospitality; among others from Allan Cameron (Lundavra), a Lochaber gentleman who held an important office in the Civil Service there.

It seems that 1806-7 was one of the often recurrent years of scarcity in the Highlands.[12]  “What a melancholy state the Highlands is in; it makes my heart sick to think of it,” says Major Cameron, who was engaged in buying a cargo of meal to send to Lochaber.

November 1807, the battalion moved to Ballyshannon. On March 2nd, 1808, the commanding officer writes from that place, “I have again completed this battalion within the twelvemonth to 600 and a few more, that is a few more than its establishment, from being a year ago scarcely half that number, but not without great anxiety, much trouble, and some expense.”  The men were nearly all from the Highlands; a great number appear to have been from the counties of Inverness and Ross.

[343, March 1808] May 3rd, 1808, the major writes from Ballyshannon-”We are now 611 rank and file, besides sergeants and drummers, and we have about twenty recruits in Scotland still. The regiment are almost all Scotch, and two-thirds of them can scarcely speak a word of English”; “but as the 1st Battalion are going on service, we shall lose a hundred or two soon.”[13] Letter-writing was a costly business in those days. Major Cameron mentions that his postage for the year amounted to nearly £50.

In November 1808 the battalion had moved to Tuam, arid in January 1809 it was ordered to Athlone. Here Sergeant Neil Murray was promoted ensign in a garrison battalion. Sergeant Nicol writes that few could speak English at Tuam, only Irish Gaelic. Lieut.-Colonel Napier having been killed at Corunna, and Major Cameron having been promoted lieut.-colonel, he took command of the 1st Battalion, and the command of the 2nd devolved on Lieut.-Colonel Lamont (of Lamont), his adjutant being Lieutenant Ewen Campbell (Sonachan).

On the banks of the Shannon they were employed in duties now performed by the Royal Irish Constabulary, such as quelling faction fights; and detachments were sent to various places to put a stop to the treasonable proceedings of the “Carders,” a body of men who administered an unlawful oath to numbers of people in Roscommon and Galway. A subaltern describes his quarters at Ballymoe Bagot, the only furniture between the clay under his feet and the thatch over his head being “large quantities of soot suspended from the roof in long beautifully curled rows as black as the feathers on a Highlander’s bonnet”; but in these places they were received with genuine hospitality by the respectable inhabitants. At Roscommon, however, a large assemblage of town and country people attacked the barracks, breaking the windows and threatening to break the heads of the detachment. Ensign Little, who commanded, moved out his twenty men, fixed bayonets and charged along the market-place, clearing it of the rioters and wounding one of them. Mr Little, being called upon by the general for a detailed account, wrote a whimsical dispatch, in which, after giving the names of those who had distinguished themselves in the engagement, he concluded, “It now remains for me to express my sincere regret that the nature of the service on which I have been engaged will not permit me to recommend any of my brave followers for promotion.” The ensign, poor fellow, fell in a more memorable battle, that of Quatre-Bras.

[344, Jan 1809] It appears from the Order Book of this time, a few sheets of which exist, that small parties under an officer were often employed in still-hunting, as—

Athlone, 16th November 1810.—One subaltern, one sergeant, one corporal, twelve rank and file will parade for Excise duty at three o’clock in the morning in the barrack square, by order of General Montresor. For the above duty Ensign M’Donald.

For every still captured, sergeants received I8s., corporals 10s. 6d., privates 7s. In the spring of 1811, a party of the 92nd with a few dragoons captured in thirty hours twenty-two stills, for each of which they received the above payments.

The men were taught a regular system of fixing flints. Agreeable to general order, twelve men per company were selected as marksmen, size and appearance not to be considered in choosing them, but activity, intelligence, and quickness of sight. A subaltern and two sergeants from each wing to be selected to command them when ordered out. Only eight of each company to be ordered out at a time, the rest to remain as supernumeraries to supply casualties. The marksmen of a battalion to be employed for its protection when in line or column from the annoyance of the enemy’s skirmishers. They are to have half the practice ammunition of the battalion allotted to their use. Targets to be five feet in diameter, each shot to be pointed out so that the man may correct his fault. First practice at 100 yards, to be increased by degrees to 200 yards. Men to fire standing and kneeling, and may use a rest; always to bring the piece up to the object. Men to learn to load without halting, and lying on the ground. Marksmen’s station in battalion to be on flanks of sub-divisions. When battalion is three deep, they are to be on flank of front and rear ranks only.

5th December 1810.—A committee consisting of one sergeant, one corporal, and one private will assemble to-morrow at twelve o’clock to report on the quality and goodness of beer delivered to the troops.

24th December 1810.—At a meeting of pay-sergeants held this day by order of the commanding officer, they appear unanimously of opinion that the battalion can be served with beef and mutton cheaper than was offered by contract, viz. 4 1/2 d. per lb. The commanding officer is, therefore, induced to give it a trial this month.

Officers commanding companies are most minutely to inspect the meat purchased for their respective companies.

The troops regularly attended divine service.

9th March 1811.—The men to wear their humble bonnets till the new bonnets are put up.

[345, March 1811] 28th March 1811.—At morning parades, garrison parades excepted, officers and men will appear in their undressed bonnets, and at evening parades in their feathered bonnets.

3rd April 1811.—Sergeant-Major Bryce is appointed quartermaster-sergeant vice Gordon, who has given in his resignation. Sergeant M’Kenzie of the Light Company is appointed sergeant-major.

Recruiting was carried on principally in the north of Scotland, and always with care as to the class of men taken. The following is a recruiting placard, date about 1811-12

The Gallant
Ninety-Second
or Gordon Highlanders

who have so often distinguished themselves at Copenhagen, Spain, on the plains of Holland and sands of Egypt, and who are now with Lord Wellington in Portugal, want to get a few spirited young men, lads, and boys, to whom the greatest encouragement and

Highest Bounty will be given.

From the character of the officers of the regiment who are from this part of the Highlands, they can depend that the interest and advantage of high-spirited and well-conducted soldiers from this part of the country will be particularly considered.

Printed at the Journal Office, Inverness.

 

It was a long tramp to bring recruits to the west of Ireland from districts north of Inverness, from which at this period the regiment got a great many men of the best class, who filled the vacancies in the 1st Battalion.

In 1811, the 2nd Battalion was moved to Scotland, and landed at Irvine on the 11th October. There are no records to show where it was quartered on arrival in its native land, but in 1813 it was in Glasgow,[14] from which city it marched on the 1st of August 1814, and occupied Edinburgh Castle on the 3rd. Here it remained till the peace of 1814, when it was reduced on the 24th October, having existed exactly eleven years, for though placed on the establishment from the 9th of July 1803, it was only formed at Weely on the 24th of October of that year. The officers were placed on half-pay; many of the n.c. officers and men were discharged to pension, the remainder were transferred to the 1st Battalion, taking with them the colours. The n.c. officers were borne as supernumeraries on the strength of 1st Battalion till vacancies occurred.

[346, Oct 1814] Since the formation of the 2nd Battalion, it had never been necessary to receive volunteers from other regiments of the line as had been the case on several previous occasions, and notwithstanding the great drain of constant campaigning, the 1st Battalion had been kept complete with men in whose keeping its character was safe, both in quarters and in the field.

On the 26th and 27th of March 1815, the regiment, now consisting of one battalion, marched to Cork. “The colours of the 2nd Battalion will march with the left wing.”

At Cork great attention was paid to putting the barracks into a thorough state of cleanliness. The commanding officer warns the officers against the “shocking practice” of signing without examining papers put before them by their n.c. officers. All copies of muster rolls, etc., to be in the officer’s own writing.

There were still one drummer and twenty-four privates sick in the Peninsula; six sergeants, six corporals, twenty-six privates were recruiting at Inverness, Elgin, etc.[15]

It appears that a quarrel in a ball-room, resulting in a duel, had taken place between two officers. “It is with a feeling of deeper regret than he can express that Colonel Cameron has heard of an occurrence which, as it is the first of its kind in the 92nd Regiment he has heard of since he has been in command, he sincerely hopes it may be the last.” . . . “He has been accustomed to feel proudly conscious of the high sense of propriety of conduct, together with the unanimity and harmony which prevailed among the officers of the 92nd.” . . . “It is some palliation that this interruption had proceeded from very young men, of but very short service in the regiment, though by no means a sufficient excuse” ; and the Order continues” that while he has the honour to command the 92nd, he will use his power to rid it of parties concerned in such transactions either as principals or accessories, the latter being frequently more to blame than the former.”

In April the 92nd was inspected, and made “that soldier-like appearance under arms which has ever marked the regiment.”

The Orders show that the women were employed to cook the men’s dinners.

 

Back to Previous Chapter

Back to Top

To Next Chapter