"July 11th, '93. Parted with son James half past five o'clock night, at Lark-hall. He was then aged 16 years and seven days. I walked to Hamilton that night with a heart full of grief."
The following letter, addressed:—
"Mr. H. McLachlane, Writer, Glasgow.
"Edr., 53, York Place,
"10 July, 1815.
"Sir,—I recd. your letter of the 7th inst. and with reference to a letter I wrote Mr. Une not knowing the address of my lamented friend Col. Hamilton's sister, I beg leave to inform you that with deep regret I have ascertained the intelligence of the Col.'s death to be correct. His bravery was most gallant throughout the 18th, and he was killed giving a word of command. Several accounts agree that latterly in the action he was seen by his men still commanding with both arms shot off, holding the reins of his charger in his teeth. This must have been momentary desperation. I saw a letter from an officer in the Greys (Gen. Hamilton of Dalziel's son) stating that it was ascertained that on examining Col. Hamilton's body previous to his burial on the field of battle he had received a shot through his heart, and Sir James Stewart showed me a letter from Col. Clark of the Greys mentioning that the Colonel's body had been found and had been buried."
*****
The letter is signed James Swan. In the margin Major J. W. Hozier has noted:—
"Trotter, son of Mr. Trotter of Worton Hall, Edinburgh."
Inserted in this volume are the leaves from "Good Words" of September 1st, 1866, containing "Two Glasgow Stories," "By the Editor."
"1. James Anderson.
"About ninety years ago the 21st, or North British Fusiliers, were engaged in the American war, and fighting at Ticonderoga.... The Fusiliers were then commanded by Colonel Inglis Hamilton, formerly of the Scots Greys, who inherited from a long line of ancestors the property of Murdiestoun, in the vicinity of Glasgow.