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

Highlanders in Egypt 71
prominent in the battle but the initial, and somewhat cryptic, report
from Wolseley merely claimed that all were brave but that the Irish had
distinguished themselves in the fighting. 19 As notification of the casualty
returns soon followed, it dawned on editors north of the border
that this commentary was far from adequate. The Scotsman asserted
that the Highland Brigade and the Seaforth Highlanders (who served
with the Indian contingent) had assumed a ‘conspicuous part in the
capture of Tel-el-Kebir. No portion of the British force bore themselves
more splendidly, or, it is understood, suffered more heavily on that day
...’ Although the Highland Brigade amounted to about one-sixth of
the force, it had suffered 74 per cent of the killed and 46 per cent of the
wounded (according to the initial casualty returns). 20 As the returns
became more detailed, the Dundee Courier & Argus protested that ‘the
Royal Irish had two men killed’ while ‘the Highland Brigade had fortyfive
killed’, and that even if ‘Wolseley’s praise of the Irish troops was
well deserved, as their bravery is well known’, the Highland Brigade
had not received the praise ‘it deserved’. 21 Compounding this indignation
was the absence of any reference to Major-General Alison in the
dispatch (despite a mention of the Duke of Connaught, who had commanded
the Guards, a unit held in reserve throughout the battle). In
deprecating this oversight, Glasgow’s North British Daily Mail maintained
that ‘The burden of the fray fell where the men fell thickest, and
that was at the point where the Highlanders fought.’ It insisted that the
doubt cast upon their prowess by Sir Garnet Wolseley’s dispatch should
be removed and their gallantry vindicated. 22
The letters of soldiers and the reports of war correspondents now
assumed an even greater significance than normally. The honour of
Scottish regiments seemed at issue and a profusion of letters from
Egypt was published. Even ‘a hurried account’ from a Black Watch
officer, claiming that the old 42nd entered the trenches ‘first’, was not
only published in the Scotsman but reprinted in several newspapers. 23
Effusive tributes in the metropolitan press were reproduced in
Scotland, including Cameron’s account in the Standard which described
the charge and identified Private Donald Cameron (Cameron
Highlanders) as the first man to mount the parapet and the second to
fall, an event confirmed by his comrade in arms, Private W. Wood.
Cameron was immediately hailed as a local hero in Perthshire. 24 The
Dundee Weekly News reprinted another report from the Daily
Telegraph, lauding the advance of the ‘gallant Seaforths’ south of the
canal. Despite a barrage of badly aimed fire, they charged the enemy
trenches, seizing four guns, and made for the battery beyond. A