[1]. A few months back, while on duty at the Tower, one of the warders informed me a most extraordinary lady was anxious to see me, when, to my astonishment, Mrs. Plunket stood before me, and while she held a handkerchief by one hand close to that part where her nose formerly stood, with her other hand she squeezed mine, and in the most plaintive tone told me of poor Tom’s death. It appeared that herself and Plunket, who usually tramped through different parts of the country, and procured a livelihood selling needles and tapes, while passing through a street in Colchester, suddenly staggering a few paces fell down and expired. The death of Tom and the sight of Mrs. Plunket, whose extraordinary countenance excited disgust as well as pity, spread like wildfire through the town, and it came to the ears of several retired officers living in that city, who happened to read my description of him; the result was that a handsome collection was set on foot, and the amount of twenty pounds was collected for the widow. The lady of a colonel also, entirely out of her own pocket, paid for the funeral of poor Tom, with a handsome tombstone to perpetuate his memory. This she told me with many sobs. Thus ended the career of the gallant but unfortunate Plunket.
[2]. As the reader may not be aware of the weight each rifleman had to carry during this long and harassing march, this too by men considered the lightest troops in our service, they are as follows: Knapsack and straps, two shirts, two pair of stockings, one pair of shoes, ditto soles and heels, three brushes, box of blacking, razor, soap-box and strap, and also at the time an extra pair of trowsers, a mess-tin, centre-tin and lid, haversack and canteen, great coat and blanket, a powder-flask filled, a ball bag containing thirty loose balls, a small wooden mallet used to hammer the ball into the muzzle of our rifles; belt and pouch, the latter containing fifty rounds of ammunition, sword-belt and rifle, besides other odds and ends, that at all times are required for a service-soldier. Each squad had also to carry four bill-hooks, that weighed six pounds each, so that every other day each man had to carry it; thus equipped, with from seventy to eighty pounds weight, this too in the melting month of July. Not content with the above, the General gave strict orders for each man to have his canteen filled with water before commencing the day’s march every morning. Through being thus overloaded, four hundred of the battalion died a few months after our arrival, without a single shot being fired. But the survivors soon found out the cause of this mortality, as I don’t think there was a man in the regiment five years after, before we left the country, could show a single shirt or a pair of shoes in his knapsack.
[3]. The Honourable Captain Pakenham was a brother-in-law to the Duke of Wellington. This gentleman, who belonged to my regiment, was much beloved by us all. He was always so considerate! On every occasion when the fresh arrival of necessaries, meat, wine, &c., brought the men in crowds about the stores, he invariably would abide his turn, and, as though he were one of ourselves, oblige every new comer, whatever his rank, to submit to the same. This, though mere justice, for its rare occurrence with the other officers, was never forgotten by the men. Since his return from the Peninsula I have been told he was ordered to New Orleans, where he was killed.
[4]. I must here remark, that these shells were thrown at us by mistake, as the town was in the possession of our friends the Portuguese, under the command of Colonel Cox, a British officer, who from our position being near the enemy, as well as our green dress, must have mistaken us for the latter. Almeida was afterwards taken by the French.
[5]. Strange as it may appear, this ball may be this hour felt with as much ease as the first day it entered, forty-two years back.
[6]. Among the officers wounded was the present Sir H. Smith, his brother Tom also. The former being on the staff had a cedan with two mules to carry him; the latter was packed with the men in bullock-carts.
[7]. With regard to knapsacks, of which so much has been spoken, I cannot see why they could not be carried by the quarter-master or commissariat, and given out with the same ease as the rations. This I apply only to the rifles and other light troops, who, being always exposed and in advance, have need of all their energies and activity to render them fully effective.
[8]. Any of my readers passing through Knightsbridge, may chance to observe a tall military figure, bent with years, a bag thrown over his shoulders, stooping to pick up bones, &c., this person is no other than the once redoubtable Humphrey Allen, at that time one of the smartest and finest-looking men in our Rifles.
[9]. I have often felt surprised that our officers have not generally adopted the plan of carrying a rifle when in action; the defence it would afford to the individual himself in its superiority over the sword or the pistol, which latter are mere toys in the field, would, I imagine, bear its own argument. The additional strength also it must give to the efficiency of the regiments generally, from the number it would add to each volley (in the proportion of fifty to a regiment), and the confidence it must inspire in the officers, would, one should think, carry everything before it, nor can it prevent any officer in keeping his eye on his men, as all riflemen, while in action, use their own judgment by getting under cover, consequently out of sight.
[10]. This veteran soldier, who was afterwards promoted to the rank of Sergeant-Major, through the interest of his old commander Sir Hussey Vivian, now holds a situation in the Tower, where we frequently meet.