[8] Among the French prisoners was a wounded young serjeant of very interesting appearance and manners, who was treated with much kindness by Lieut.-Colonel Wangenheim, commanding the detachments of Hanoverians. Many years afterwards, when the French army entered Hanover, General Wangenheim attended the levée of General Bernadotte, who referred to the circumstance at Cudalore in 1783, and added,—“I am the individual who, when a young serjeant, received kindness from you in India.”—Colonel David Stewart on the Scots Highlanders.
[9] “1790, 5th Sept. Camp at Coimbetore.—Dined with Captain Frazer; he talked of nothing but the storm of Palacatcherry. Captain Frazer has applied for, and obtained, the command of the four flank companies; it is very spirited of him, leaving the command of the regiment, and volunteering so dangerous a service; but he was as great as Cæsar this evening, and nothing would serve him but dying in the breach. He often appealed to me, when speaking of what the grenadiers could do.”—Journal of Lieutenant Ronald Campbell, of the Grenadier Company, Seventy-second Regiment, 2 vols., fol. MS.
[10] Lieutenant Campbell, of the SEVENTY-SECOND foot, appears to have been delighted with this part of the Mysore: he states in his journal:—“I have never seen any part of India comparable to the valley on our right; it is truly beautiful beyond conception! The hills that bound it form an amphitheatre, covered with wood, except where a rugged precipice or stupendous rock shows itself, and waterfalls enrich the scene. The valley is covered with delightful verdure, and luxuriant crops, interspersed with clumps of the stateliest trees in the world, bearing a charmingly variegated foliage; and beneath their shade, small houses, built of cajan-leaf and bamboo, afford shelter to the cow-herds who tend their flocks and watch their fields. Numberless villages are strewed in the valley, and everything bears the mark of peace and plenty. The inhabitants are protected by us, and as we passed, we saw in every field the busy husbandmen reaping the fruits of their labour. After coming to our camp ground, I walked out with Captain Braithwaite, and we found the untilled land covered with bringals, yams, and other vegetables, growing spontaneously. On our left hand lie the Animalli woods, famous for their extent and thickness, and for the size, variety, and quality of their trees (teak-wood being in the greatest abundance and perfection); also for the number of wild animals viz.—elephants, tigers, bears, wolves, and the wild-boar, with a numerous tribe of the rarest birds—peacocks in great numbers. Wild elephants are so numerous, that when Tippoo was here, about four months since, he caught, as we are told, seventy of them. We are encamped on the ground he occupied; I can trace the place where, they say, his own tents stood.”
[11] Journal of Lieutenant Ronald Campbell, of the Grenadier Company Seventy-second regiment, 2 vols, fol. MS.
[12] Journal of Lieutenant R. Campbell.
[13] A drawing of this fortress is given in the Journal of Lieutenant Campbell of the Seventy-second Highlanders.
[14] Lieutenant Campbell’s Journal.
[15] On the 12th of August, as the Grenadiers and Captain Gordon’s company of the SEVENTY-SECOND were on duty in the trenches, exposed to a burning sun, and a severe cannonade from the fortress, Colonel Campbell, field officer of the trenches, sent his orderly to Lieutenant Campbell of the Grenadiers, requesting that the piper of the Grenadiers might be directed to play some pibrachs. This was considered a strange request to be made at so unsuitable a time; it was, however, immediately complied with: “but we were a good deal surprised to perceive that the moment the piper began, the fire from the enemy slackened, and soon after almost entirely ceased. The French all got upon the works, and seemed more astonished at hearing the bag-pipe, than we with Colonel Campbell’s request.” Lieutenant Campbell’s Journal.
[16] On the 5th of May, 1801, the regiment lost its distinguished commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Hugh Frazer, who had always evinced a lively interest in its reputation. He entered the army in November, 1775, as lieutenant in the first battalion of the seventy-first regiment, then raised under Major-General Simon Frazer and Lieut.-Colonel Sir William Erskine, for service in North America; and in 1778 he was promoted captain in Seaforth’s Highlanders, now the SEVENTY-SECOND regiment, which corps he accompanied to India. He served with his regiment at the attack on Cudalore, and the capture of Palacatcherry, in 1783; and he commanded the SEVENTY-SECOND during the campaigns in the Mysore in 1790, 1791, and 1792, at the capture of Pondicherry in 1793, and at the conquest of Ceylon in 1795, and was conspicuous for personal bravery, ability, and a deep interest in the honour of his corps. He was always foremost to volunteer his personal services, and those of his regiment, at the post of honour and danger; and some high ground near Seringapatam, the scene of his gallantry, was named “Frazer’s Hill.” He was promoted to the majority of the regiment on the 2nd of March, 1791, and to the lieut.-colonelcy on the 1st of September, 1795. He bequeathed 500l to the officers’ mess, to be appropriated in such manner as should best commemorate his attachment to the corps, and his esteem for the officers.
[17] Number of men which landed at the Cape of Good Hope in January, 1806, under Major-General Sir David Baird:—