[91] Maurice’s ‘Diary of Sir John Moore,’ vol. i. p. 82.
[92] The despatch and Moore’s diary differ slightly about this date, but they are in substantial agreement about the facts.
[93] The “Royal Grenadiers” may be an abbreviation of the grenadier company of the “Royal Regiment of Ireland,” as the XVIIIth was still frequently termed, or of “the Royals.” In the 2nd Battalion of the Royals there were at this time two officers called MacDonald, and in the Royal Irish a captain named Donald McDonald. If Moore was accurate in his spelling of the name, an officer of the XVIIIth shared with the future hero of Corunna the honour of being first into the Mozello. In this assault Lieutenant S. Mawby of the regiment is known to have taken part.
[94] The casualties may have been greater, for the losses in the grenadier and light companies cannot be traced. Lieutenant-Colonel Wemyss’s wound is not mentioned in the casualty returns.
[95] See [Appendix 2 (E)].
[96] See [Map No. 3].
[97] Minto’s ‘Life of Elliot,’ vol. ii. p. 362.
[98] The “proof table” in the muster-roll for Christmas, 1796, shows that the regiment had only three hundred and eighty-seven officers and men “present,” while seventy-eight of all ranks were “absent”: with the corps, either in the mainland of Italy or in Elba, there were only fourteen officers, while twenty-five were on leave or employed elsewhere.
[99] The muster-roll of the XVIIIth for Christmas, 1796, was signed at Elba on April 9, 1797. Among the deaths appears the name of Lieutenant George Mallet, who died during our occupation of the island. When the writer of this history visited Elba many years ago, he noticed on the wall of the garden where Napoleon used to walk during his exile in 1814-15, tablets to the memory of two or three British officers. One of these bore the following inscription:—
“Near this place lyeth the remains of Lieutenant George Mallett of the 18th or Royal Regiment of Ireland who departed this life the 13th of January 1797 in the 18th year of his age.”