Major Campbell

“ The first attacking party of the Americans, continually augmenting, soon swelled to a hundred and fifty, and a sharp conflict ensued with the enemy's left flank, near the Milford Road. In this skirmish Major Campbell, the British adjutant, was killed. He was singled out by a militia-man concealed behind a rock, and fell, pierced by a musket-ball
* This view is from the Milford Road, eastward of West Bridge. The high ground in the distance is Milford Hill, on which is seen the road, directly over the umbrella. A little to the right of the road is the spot where Major Campbell was buried. ”

“ He’s now second oldest Lieut, in General Gage’s Regt. of light arm’d infantry, for which he’s obliged to the late Major Campbell, Inveraw; and as they talk at present of agmenting that corps, he’ll have a good chance of getting Higher up, and in any event he’s better off by being so High in that Regt. as they are now an Establish’d Corps, than if he had staid in ours, where he could be but a young Lieut. His Coll, has a great regard for him, and very Deservedly for he’s a lad of good morals, a good spirit, and very fit for his Business. He has acted as Adjutant to that Regt. ”

“ If Colin Campbell had served for over forty-six years before attaining the rank of major-general, his subsequent promotion had been exceptionally rapid, since in eight years he had run up through the list of general officers into the highest position of the military service.
With the exception of health, Lord Clyde had "all [220] which should accompany old age—honour, love, troops of friends." But he was visibly, if gradually, breaking up. He had never spared himself when duty called, but when the strain slackened with the extinction of the mutiny, his constitution began to fail. ”

“ A famous place to soldier in, as I know from experience, major."
"I love poor Paddy well enough," said Campbell: "who is there that would not, that has seen a charge of the Connaught Rangers, or the 87th? Regular devils they are for righting. But we were sent home to braid Scotland after Egypt; and we saw service there, gentlemen. Old Ludovick Lisle, and Cameron there, could tell you that. But the other paper, colonel; what is it about?"
"A despatch for General the Condé Penne Villamur, at Elizondo. It is to be forwarded instantly by the first officer for duty: who is he?" ”

“ George Anson, died of cholera at Kurnal on May 27th. Tidings of this misfortune did not reach the War Office until July 11th. On that same afternoon Sir Colin Campbell was sent for by Lord Panmure, who made him the offer of the high command rendered vacant by Anson's decease. Campbell promptly accepted the offer and expressed his readiness to start that same evening if necessary. He stipulated successfully that his friend Colonel Mansfield, then Consul-General at Warsaw [112] (afterwards Lord Sandhurst) , should be offered the appointment of chief of staff with the rank of major-general. ”

“ He has travelled a good deal in his day, and spent some time in England, Ireland, and France. He was married in 1870 to Mary Jane Angell Campbell, eldest daughter of Thomas Clifford Angell, of London, England, and his wife, Charlotte Elson, of Hertfordshire, England, and adopted daughter of the late Major David Campbell, of her Majesty’s 63rd regiment, who was for many years on the staff. He with his brother, Lieut.-Colonel Robert Campbell, of H.M. 52nd regiment, were the first settlers in Seymour, and founded what is now the flourishing town of Campbellford, taking its name from its founder. ”

“ Shield not the murderer!” At break of day he hastened, in strange agitation, to the cave; but it was empty, the stranger had gone. At night, as he strove in vain to sleep, the vision appeared once more, ghastly pale, [36] but less stern of aspect than before. “Farewell, Inverawe!” it said; “Farewell, till we meet at TICONDEROGA!”
The strange name dwelt in Campbell’s memory. He had joined the Black Watch, or Forty-Second Regiment, then employed in keeping order in the turbulent Highlands. In time he became its major; and, a year or two after the war broke out, he went with it to America. ”

“ Major 17 Feb. 1794; Lieut. Col. 9 Dec. 1795; Regiment disbanded 18 April 1799. He died at Edinburgh in Dec. 1799.”
Major Sir Duncan Campbell of Barcaldine, Bart. C. V. O.
Stewart, I, 279; II, Appendix No. 11.
AT FORT TICONDEROGA
John Campbell of Duneavis.
John Campbell, of Duneaves, Perthshire, was originally a private in the Black Watch. In 1743, he was presented, with Gregor McGregor, to George II, as a specimen of the Highland soldier and performed at St. James the broadsword exercise and that of the Lochaber axe, before his Majesty and a number of General officers. ”

“ Sir Colin understood the art of "pitching in" better than most people; he did not frequently resort to it, but the impression it created was immediate and stirring.
Outram took out a very fine force consisting of the [160] Third Infantry Division, the Bays, and the Ninth Lancers with a body of Punjaub horse, five field-batteries, and an engineer detachment. When about to camp across the Fyzabad road he was threatened by a body of rebels, who were speedily driven back into Lucknow by the field-guns and artillery. In this skirmish fell a gallant officer, Major Percy Smith of the Bays. ”

“ Fort Edward, 10th June, 1759. Field Officer for the Picquit this night Major (Gordon) Graham, for tomorrow Major (Allen) Campbell, Colonel of the day, Col. (Francis) Grant. Two captains of the Royal Highlanders to sit with others in General Court Martial tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock, to try such prisoners as are on the Provost Guard. The Royal Highlanders and Montgomery’s Regiments to send as many men this afternoon at 4 o’clock as are necessary to clean the ground where the Light Infantry is to encamp. ”

“ Lake George, 27th June. Generals Guard tomorrow, Royal Highlanders. 2 Companies of Grenediers with 2 Companies of Light Infantry ordered this morning with as many Rangers and Indians as Maj. Rogers can furnish, the whole commanded by Maj. Campbell, to march tomorrow two hours before daybreak by the same route Col. Haviland took; which post Capt. Johnson will show, and to remain there whilst the boats are fishing. They are to take one day’s provisions and to go as light as possible as they are not only a covering party to the boats, but to attack any body of the enemy they may find. ”

“ A hundred and fifty men joined from the Dublin City militia; other militia regiments contributed volunteers, and recruits came in fast from the north of Ireland. For the first few months of its existence the new battalion was in charge of Major A. W. S. F. Armstrong; then Lieutenant-Colonel A. N. Campbell, on promotion from the first battalion, assumed the command which he continued to hold until October, 1859, when he exchanged with Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. Chapman, 48th regiment. ”

“ Ensigns Patrick Stewart of Bonskied and George Rattray killed; Captains Gordon Graham, Thomas Graham of Duchray, John Campbell of Strachur, James Stewart of Urrad, James Murray (afterward General) ; Lieutenants James Grant, Robert Gray, John Campbell, William Grant, John Graham, brother of Duchray, Alexander Campbell, Alexander Mackintosh, Archibald Campbell, David Miller, Patrick Balneaves; and Ensigns John Smith and Peter Grant, wounded.”
[26]
Capt. James Murray writes from Albany 17th August, 1758: [26]
“As I observed in my last, our regiment has suffered greatly. ”

“ Stewart. Army Lists. N. Y. Colonial Manuscripts, p. 729, Vol. 10.
AT TICONDEROGA
Tablet on Boulder near French Lines at Fort Ticonderoga
Tablet in Black Watch Memorial at Ticonderoga Allan Campbell.
Allan Campbell, son of Barcaldine, entered the Army as Ensign of the 43d (now the 42nd) Highlanders, Dec. 25, 1744, and served that year against the Pretender. Was made prisoner of war at Preston Pans, 21st Sept. 1745 and sent on parole to Perth. Was appointed lieutenant Dec. 1, 1746. ”

“ Lieutenant Campbell, of the grenadiers, for whom I have long been most warmly interested, is also among the wounded, and but lately recovered from a wound he received on the breach of St. Sebastian’s, where he remained, cheering on his men, until the town was fairly in our possession. He has acted as adjutant for some time, and has exhibited qualities, in that situation, equal to his spirit in the field, which is in the true style of a British grenadier. I think this young man so deserving of promotion, that I wish to exert all the interest I am master of, to that end. ”

“ And you, Captain McDonald! Take your seat, sir; and if I hear that cursed word 'Glencoe' 'again, the first who utters it faces a court-martial!"
Partly sobered, the Campbell glared mutely at the McDonald; the latter also appeared to have recovered a portion of his senses and resumed his seat in silence, glowering at the empty glasses before him.
"Now be sensible, gentlemen," said Colonel Claus, with a jovial nod to the patroon; "let pass, let pass. This is no time to raise the fiery cross in the hills. Gad, there's a new pibroch to march to these days--
"Pibroch o' Hirokôue! ”

“ It was that of Sir Colin Campbell, the only leader on whom even a shred of the mantle of Wellington or Moore had fallen. The soldiers had confidence in no other; in fact, he was the only divisional commander in the army who had a native genius for war. But he had no “interest,” and had he been appointed, his iron will and stubborn character would have soon asserted themselves over the foolish counsels of Pélissier. A strong, competent man without “interest” was in Lord Panmure’s eyes an objectionable person. So he looked elsewhere for a successor to General Simpson. ”

“ The only thing that had kept this grand old hero back, had been, as they say in India, “pice, pice,” or money, money. Red-tape is never friendly to the poor man, no matter how brave, or what his talents are. Sir Colin Campbell had displayed a dauntless contempt of danger, wherever his country’s honour was at stake; and he lived to receive [28] from his countrymen addresses of the highest thanks and some of the most eloquent eulogies that were ever penned or spoken about a British soldier. ”

“ He sees what they cannot see; he knows what, except from his lips, they never will be able to learn. They stand silent, but they question him with their eyes. So men new to war gaze upon the veteran commander, when, with knitted brow and steady eyes, he measures the enemy’s power, and draws near to his final resolve. Campbell, fastening his eyes on the two columns standing before him, and on the heavier and more distant column on his left front, seemed not to think lightly of the enemy’s strength ”

“ Sir Colin Campbell's task was therefore a gigantic and even Herculean one.
But he was not the man to fear it. In a war like this not only the general in command, and every officer and man under him, must count his own life as nothing he must do his best, his whole best, and nothing but his best.
Day after day now fresh troops were arriving at Calcutta, and sailors too, and as they came Campbell sent them on to the front. On the 20th of August, for instance, Captain Peel of the Shannon came in. Five hundred of his brave blue-jackets with ten eight-inch guns were at once started for Allahabad. ”

“ He was educated at the high school of Edinburgh, and afterwards under a private tutor. In 1759 he joined the 51st regiment as ensign, and served in the seven years' war. Under Sir John Acton he was inspector-general of troops at Naples, and at the request of Lord Nelson he went to the Ionian islands to confirm the inhabitants in their attachment to the English cause, remaining there till the peace of Amiens in 1802. On succeeding to the estate of his cousin-german, Sir Alexander Campbell of Ardkinglass, he adopted the name of Campbell. ”

“ Brave Cameron heard the wild hurrah
Of conquest, as he fell!"
Riddled with wounds, Colonel Donald M'Donald of Inch, Knight of St. Vladimir, died in 1830, and is interred at Edinburgh; Lieutenant Winchester died there in 1846. Captain Campbell died, by leaping over a window, with a pistol in each hand, to chastise a person who had insulted him; some have died as emigrants among the wilds of the far West; many more are lying near Uppark, in Jamaica, where the close-ranked headstones show where 1300 of the Gordon Highlanders are sleeping far from their native hills ”

“ Campbell, in his despatch, says:—“Lieut.-Colonel * * * misconducted himself on the 26th and 27th November in a manner which has rarely been seen amongst the officers of Her Majesty’s service; his conduct was pusillanimous and imbecile to the last degree, and he actually gave orders for the retreat of his own regiment, and a portion of another, in the very face of the orders of his General, and when the troops were not seriously pressed by the enemy.”
Every man who wears a red coat and a pair of epaulettes is not necessarily a hero, and human courage, at best, is a somewhat unstable element. ”

“ From Andaya the division in which Colin Campbell marched sprang up the slopes to assail the key of the position, the Croix des Bouquets. To that stronghold reinforcements were hurrying, and attacks on it had already been made in vain; "But," in the burning words of Napier, "at this moment Cameron arrived with the Ninth regiment, and rushed with great vehemence to the summit of the first height. The French infantry opened ranks to let the guns retire, and then retreated themselves at full speed to a second rise where they could only be approached in a narrow front. ”

“ Campbell, manager of the Curran Like Mine—they were hardly prepared for the sudden transition from his usual costume of riding-breeches, brown shirt, and lumberman's boots, to the trappings of a British officer. He was a young man of big stature, with broad, restless shoulders that seemed to chafe under the bondage of a tunic, and he had a long, loose-limbed stride oddly at variance with the usual conception of military bearing. His eyes were light blue, his hair an unruly brown that flirted with red—and his name was Campbell. Such men do not wait for the second call when there is war. ”