HLI Chronicle 1914 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGH'l' INFANTRY CHRONlCLl!J. 129their latter wills verbatim, others givinginstructions to their comrades to acquainttheir parents or relatives if they should fall,and all seemed anxious to seek honour at thecannon's mouth. Among the party where Iwas seated was a Corporal, a fine-lookingfellow, who entertained the idea that he wasto fall. We exhausted all our eloquenceto turn him from such a foolish notion, butin vain. His spirits sank, and no persuasionoould arouse him. Morning came, and wewere soon in motion. When within range ofthe enemy's artillery we were ordered to haltin order to complete the necessary formation.The enemy began immediately to cannonadeus, and while leaning upon our arms a cannonball struck the poor Corporal in the abdomenand tore out his bowels, when he immediatelyexpired. Captain D. M'Kenzie, who commandedthe Company, was looking throughhis telescope when a cannon ball grazed hisside, passed through his wooden canteen,struck the handle of his sword, turned him tothe right about, but did him no harm. Thebrave, hardy, weather-beaten Highlander,and without the least apparent emotion,coolly said-" Well, I'll be d--d, but thatis close shaving!" I had now begun mymilitary career, and had learned that gunpowderhad an extraordinary strength, buta disagreeable smell. Our stay at the Capewas short, and we soon left it, and embarkedfor Rio de La Plata, South America.B. The capture of Buenos Ayres was aneasy affair. The defence by the Englishbefore re-delivering it was a different thing.We sustained considerable loss, and the conductof the Spaniards towards the dead wastruly barbarous. Not content with strippingthe dead naked, with fiendish delight theycut their throats, mangled their bodies inevery form, cut the ears from their headsand wore them in their hats as trophies.Two days previous to our surrendering theplace we were ordered to lodge our knapsacksin the castle in order to lighten us, as wellas for their better security. Some days afterthe surrender of the place our packs weredelivered to us plundered of their contentsby the enemy, no useful article of any descriptionbeing left. After remaining in prisontwo or three weeks we were ordered to be distributedin small parties through the differenttowns in the province of La Plata. It fell tothe lot of the party to which I belonged to go toSaint Juan, a town on the frontiers of LaPlata, situa.ted at the foot of the Andes, anddistant from Bueno!l Ayres one thousandmiles. On this long and painful march I feltnothing but misery. My life was a burdento me. Having nothing to subsist on butbeef, our living was filthy in the extreme.We had no cooking utensils, no knives, nosalt; our walking staff served for a spit;and, on pampas plains where neither woodnor water can be found, the dried excrementof animals served for fuel. There were neithertowns nor villages; not a single house. Wehad nothing to shelter us from the inclemencyof the weather but the canopy of heaven.How disagreeable the word " prison" soundsin the ear of a soldier! Captivity in a palaceis but misery when compared with "sweetliberty." How often did I think of my nativecountry on these trying occasions, and wouldcheerfully have given the gold mines ofMexico to be free! Although our course ofliving was filthy we were perfectly healthy,none having died, nor any sick. When a personis exposed to misery such as I have describedit is easy to conceive the state the body mustbe in. We had' nothing to wear, and wereonly mid-way upon our journey, having stillfive hundred miles to travel, and, having notonce changed our body clothes, they hadalmost worn out. My shoes had long beenworn out, and what remained of my red coatwas turned parson grey. Nothing of thetrousers remained but the waistband. of theshirt nothing but the seams, and the· plumedbonnet, the Highlander's pride, with all itsgaudy ornaments, totally disappeared on thebarren plains of La Plata. After a period oftwenty-eight days travel.we arrived at SaintJuan, the place of our destination, and wereonce more committed to prison. Our situationfor some time was truly miserablenothingbut the bare walls of a ruined convent,damp fioors, without bedding or any othercomfort. Seven weeks had now elapsedsince I was prisoner, during which time I hadnot shaved; and with some prospect of beingpermitted to rest, at least for a time, I pulledup courage, the spirits rose, and I commencedcleaning. It absolutely became necessaryto extirpate a certain bosom enemy. Iaccordingly commenced shaving, washing,and scrubbing, and in a short time I got ridof my troublesome neighbours. About thistime the Governor of the place granted permission,to any of the inhabitants who had amind to, to select one or two of the prisoners, ifthey were agreeable to reside with them.A gentleman (an old Spaniard) and his lady(a Creole) selee-ted me-for what cause Iknow not; but the effect proved good. They