16. The Congress held at modern day Aachen in October 1818 was essentially a meeting of the four great powers (Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria) to deal with the end of the occupation of France and how France itself would be dealt with in the international arena in future.
17. Major General Robert Goodloe Harper (1765-1825) served in the War of 1812 and commanded the Third Division of the Maryland Militia.
18. Louisa Catherine Caton, Marchioness of Carmarthen, married Colonel Sir Felton Hervey 14th Light Dragoons.
19. NAM Reference 7011-21-10.
20. The editor failed to find a major improvement!
21. Reference NAM 7011-21-11.
22. Hutcheon, David, son of the Reverend John Hutcheon, sometime in partnership with Francis Edmond (1829), firm being Hutcheon & Edmond; Procurator Fiscal of Commissary Court; Justice of the Peace for Aberdeenshire. Died, unmarried, 10 December 1832, aged 67.Reference: History of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen edited by John Alexander Henderson. Aberdeen 1912.
23. This letter is no longer extant.
Chapter 17: Demob
1. Reference NAM 7011-21-12.
2. This letter is no longer extant.
3. Laura Rebecca was the oldest child of Edwin and Jane Gairdner, she was born in 1790. She was also known affectionately as ‘Lallys’ and sometimes ‘Old Maid’.
4. NAM Reference 7011-21-13.
5. Inflamation of the brain.
6. First Lieutenant Orlando Felix of the 95th had served with James in the 1st Battalion and remained in the regiment on full pay.
7. Robert Felix was actually a Commander in the Royal Navy.
8. Thomas Coutts of the private bank Coutts & Co.
9. I cannot identify this officer with any certainty.
10. It is impossible to be certain of this officer’s identity.
11. The lions – the sights.
12. A red rash also known as St Anthony’s fire.
13. Henri d’Artois, Duc de Bordeaux was the first born son of the Duc de Berri.
14. Donat, Orsi & Co. were bankers in Florence from 1800-1830.
15. A small traditional boat rigged with a lateen sail.
16. Near La Spezia.
17. Laura.
18. Charles Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1817-21.
19. Laquais de place – A local man servant engaged when in a foreign city.
20. 2nd Lieutenant James Church (he is mistaken calling him William) went on half pay in 1816 and was wrecked off Holyhead on 5 February 1824.
21. Lieutenant Henry Palmer Hill 8th Foot.
22. The Greek War of Independence from the Turks started in 1822.
23. Reference The London Gazette Issue 18326, page 133, dated 19 January 1827.
24. When short of paper, writers often wrote over the previous text at right angles. The editor can confirm that reading such text is extremely difficult.
25. Moreland is now a suburb of Charleston.
26. Louis Philipe I was forced to abdicate in 1848 and was exiled to England.
27. The US – Mexican war of 1846-8.
28. This had been a rancorous issue for many years. The Waterloo Medal had caused great upset with veterans of the Peninsular War who had to wait until 1848 to claim the new General Service Medal which was supplied with bars for claimants back to 1800. James did receive his medal with nine bars as he expected (Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vitoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes & Toulouse).
29. Elizabeth was actually James’ sister-in- law, she married Colonel Thomas Flournoy Foster who died in 1848.
30. Mary Macintosh Gairdner, James’ wife.
31. He did receive one General Service Medal with nine clasps, a faded picture of which is shown in the illustrations in this book, however its current whereabouts are unknown. His Waterloo medal was apparently sold at auction in July 1990 by Christies to an unknown collector.
Chapter 18: Aftermath
1. Reference Elmhurst Cemetery, Georgia. The dates of his birth makes it likely that he is related although it is not certain. James Penman, grandson of our James, is also buried in this cemetery.
2. Reference, Summerville Cemetery, Augusta, Richmond, Georgia.
3. Reference, Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892.
4. Bay Street faces onto the Savannah River.
Selected Bibliography
Anon, Army Lists Various.
Bell, Sir G., Soldier’s Glory (Tunbridge Wells, 1991).
Bromley, J. and D., Wellington’s Men Remembered, 2 volumes (Barnsley, 2012-15).
Burnham, R., and McGuigan, R., The British Army Against Napoleon (Barnsley, 2010).
Dalton, C., The Waterloo Roll Call (London, 1971).
Desaussure, H.W., Report of Cases Assayed and Determined in the Court of Chancery of the State of South Carolina from Foundation to December 1813, Vol. 3 (1817).
Hall, J., A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. VIII (London, 1998).
Hathaway, E., Costello, The True story of a Peninsular War Rifleman (Swanage, 1991).
Hayter, A., The Backbone, Diaries of a Military Family in the Napoleonic Wars (Edinburgh, 1993).
Kincaid, Captain Sir J., Adventures in the Rifle Brigade (Glasgow, 1981).
Leach, Lieutenant Colonel J., Rough Sketches of the Life of an Old Soldier (London, 1831).
Oman, Sir C., Wellington’s Army 1809-14 (London, 1986).
Park, S.J. and Nafziger, G.F., The British Military Its System and Organisation 1803-15 (Cambridge, Canada, 1983).
Simmons, Major G., A British Rifleman (London, 1986).
Smith, G.C. Moore, The Autobiography of Lt Gen Sir Harry Smith (London, 1902).
Starnes, E., The Slaveholder Abroad, or, Billy Buck’s Visit with His Master, to England (1860).
Syrett and DiNardo, The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815 (Navy Records Society, 1994).
Surtees, W., Twenty Five Years in the Rifle Brigade (London, 1996).
Urban, M., Rifles (London, 2003).
Verner, W., History and Campaign of the Rifle Brigade 1800-13 (London, 1912).
Whyte, D., Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the USA (Baltimore, 1972).
Williams, Greg H., The French Assault on American Shipping 1793-1813 (Jefferson, North Carolina, 2009).
WATERLOO: THE DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON’S IMPERIAL GUARD
Henry Clinton, the 2nd Division, and the End of a 200-year-old Controversy
Gareth Glover
It was called the ‘Crisis’ of the battle. It was the moment when the infantry of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard was pitched at the weakened Anglo-Allied centre. The first French column was beaten back but a second column pushed on, driving the British Guards before them. All seemed lost until Colonel Colborne ordered the 52nd Foot, in line formation, to wheel its face to the left. Suddenly, through the smoke, the menacing column of French Imperial guardsmen became visible directly to their front and still marching inexorably for the crest of the ridge ahead, seemingly oblivious to Colborne’s men, now facing its vulnerable flank at short musket range.
The volley of a thousand lead musket balls struck the French column with such venom that it halted in its tracks, and those fortunate to escape injury turned to offer a confused but firm response. Colborne’s men did not hesitate to reload, but gave one lusty cheer and advanced immediately towards the shattered column in a determined bayonet charge
The light infantry brigade, led by Colborne’s men swept across the field, destroying all semblance of order and any attempts to rally to offer further resistance. Defeat rapidly turned into inglorious rout.
Truly the Light Brigade had swept the field clear of the enemy and had won the battle for Wellington. Or so some historians would claim. But is it all true?
This book uses a mass of previously unpublished material regarding the exploits of the Light Brigade and indeed the entire Second Division of which it was one of three brigades under the command of S
ir Henry Clinton to examine this most controversial episode of the most famous battle of the nineteenth century.
For more information on our books, please vist www.frontline-books.com
WATERLOO 1815
History’s Most Famous Battle Told Through Newspaper Reports, Official Documents and the Accounts of Those Who Were There
John Grehan
Composed of more than 300 eye-witness accounts, official documents, parliamentary debates and newspaper reports, Waterloo 1815 tells the story of Napoleon’s last battles as they were experienced and reported by the men and women involved.
Heroic cavalry charges, devastating artillery bombardments, terrible injuries, heart-breaking encounters, and amusing anecdotes, written by aristocratic officers and humble privates alike, fill the pages of this book, the latest in the Voices from the Past series. Many of these reports have not been reproduced for almost 200 years.
Read of the teeth extracted from the dead on the battlefield, to be used for dentures in Britain. Learn what books Napoleon took with him on campaign; of the gunner who tripped as his cannon was discharged, blowing off his arms and legs, yet who lived out the day; of the soldier whose head was taken off by a cannon ball, as described by the man stood talking to him; of the children born as their fathers fought, and died, at Waterloo who were named after the famous battle; discover why a British soldier was worth more alive and dead; and what Wellington considered a good ‘bottom’!
For more information on our books, please vist www.frontline-books.com
A portrait of Captain J.P. Gairdner by Christa Hook.
St Jean de Luz by Batty.
The Bastille Elephant.
The Battle of the Pyrenees.
Battle of Toulouse by William Heath.
French prisoners at Salamanca.
River Bidassoa by Batty.
The Church of Arcangues.
La Rhune by Batty.
Rifleman officer’s jacket.
James Gairdner’s nemesis, Alexander Cameron of the 95th.
An Officer of the 95th, Paris 1815.
A depiction of the Battle of Nivelle, 10 November 1813.
The James Penman Gairdner obelisk.
A copy of a portrait of James Penman Gairdner in later life.
Wooden House, Kelso.
The American Sharpe Page 31