The Scottish soldier and Empire, 1854-1902 - Reenactor.ru

26 The Scottish Soldier and Empire
stretched beyond the metropolis to include leading provincial papers,
notably the Manchester Guardian, Scotsman and the Western Morning
News. Even some smaller provincial newspapers, like the Crieff
Journal, Kinross-shire Advertiser and the Fifeshire Journal – all associated
with the traditional recruiting areas of the Black Watch –
followed the campaign intently. They published diaries and letters
from soldiers of the 42nd, first-hand accounts of their exploits, and
interviews with soldiers on their return.
In fact, most accounts appeared after the end of hostilities because
the campaign proved remarkably short (the 42nd left Portsmouth on
4 January and returned on 23 March) and the communications slow.
As Wolseley monopolised the flow of news initially (by sending his
own dispatches back on an empty steamer to Gibraltar), his early
reports, commenting on the retreat of the Asante forces and the offers
of peace from the Asantehene, led the unwary to expect that this ‘little
war’ would come to ‘a very quiet termination’. 4 Editors, who had
hitherto been more concerned about the general election of February
1874 and the reports of Dr Livingstone’s death, were ‘startled’ when
the news arrived in late February of ‘severely-contested’ battles,
involving heavy losses for Wolseley’s small army. Some thought that
Wolseley had suffered a ‘disastrous triumph’, or that the 42nd had
incurred a ‘deadly loss’ before fuller accounts appeared, chronicling
the triumph of Wolseley in capturing Kumase at minimal cost (both
in men and resources). 5 If the shock aroused interest in the war, the
later reports lauded the ‘gallantry’ of the 42nd Highlanders, especially
as they had undertaken ‘the heaviest part of the fighting’ during
the decisive battle of Amoafo. 6 None of these commentators, though,
had emulated Winwood Reade and followed the Highlanders in the
firing line, 7 so newspapers readily printed letters and diaries from soldiers
of the 42nd describing their campaign experience.
Newspapers had already reported on the rapturous send-off of
the Highlanders when they set sail from Portsmouth on the Clydebuilt
steamship Sarmatian. As the battalion had been based in Portsmouth
before its departure, friends and family were among the huge
crowds that cheered the 42nd from different parts of the harbour.
Prince Arthur also came out in a launch to Spithead to witness the
departure. The spectators were not simply cheering the 42nd, as the
latter had left its bandsmen (but not its pipers) and all ‘non-efficients’
behind. To produce a fighting strength of nearly 700, it had accepted
130 volunteers from the 79th (Cameron) Highlanders, mainly longservice
men, with two of their own officers. These volunteers, as a