Opening the text

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.Campbell, James

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Name: A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.
Author: Campbell, James

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

In order to show what little effect executing men for desertion had
upon others, I shall take the liberty of mentioning what took place
upon one occasion at St. Johns. My General being absent at Montreal,
as Brigade-Major attached to the troops, most of the melancholy duty
of superintending such executions fell to my share. A private of De
Meuron's regiment was at this time to be shot. The troops were formed
in three sides of a square, at the other side towards the forest the
grave was dug, and the coffin for the criminal to kneel upon, was
placed, as usual upon such occasions, beside it. The Provost, with the
firing party escorting the prisoner, and with the band of the regiment
at their head playing the Dead march, entered the square--when, to my
surprise, there proudly marched the prisoner--coolly smoking a cigar.
Seeing at once the bad effects likely to result from such evident
contempt of death, painful as it was to me, I called the Provost, and
ordered him to take away the cigar from him. On approaching the grave,
the prisoner walked quietly, but steadily forward, looked into it, and
turning round to me, said, in French, "it will do." But still more
to my surprise, yet with equal calmness, he walked up to his coffin,
and before I was aware of what he was about, with his middle finger
and thumb he measured its length, and turning round again to me, he
said, in French, which his corps generally spoke, "it will do also."
This was so far beyond any thing I had ever before witnessed, that I
found it necessary to direct the Provost to proceed with the execution
as quickly as possible; he therefore went up to the prisoner with a
handkerchief, and, as is customary, offered to bind up his eyes. He
however, pushed the Provost aside, exclaiming, in French, "I am a brave
soldier, and have often looked death in the face, and shall not shrink
from it now." The Provost then desired him, or rather made signs to
him, to kneel upon his coffin, but he replied, "I prefer standing, and
shall do so firmly." "Vive L'Empereur, vive Napoleon," were his last
words. The party fired, and in an instant he ceased to exist.

He was a Frenchman, and had been a prisoner of war for a considerable
time in England, but had been very improperly allowed to enlist into De
Meuron's regiment; which he had, no doubt, entered with the intention
of deserting the first opportunity which should present itself.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

In order to show what little effect executing men for desertion had
upon others, I shall take the liberty of mentioning what took place
upon one occasion at St. Johns. My General being absent at Montreal,
as Brigade-Major attached to the troops, most of the melancholy duty
of superintending such executions fell to my share. A private of De
Meuron's regiment was at this time to be shot. The troops were formed
in three sides of a square, at the other side towards the forest the
grave was dug, and the coffin for the criminal to kneel upon, was
placed, as usual upon such occasions, beside it. The Provost, with the
firing party escorting the prisoner, and with the band of the regiment
at their head playing the Dead march, entered the square--when, to my
surprise, there proudly marched the prisoner--coolly smoking a cigar.
Seeing at once the bad effects likely to result from such evident
contempt of death, painful as it was to me, I called the Provost, and
ordered him to take away the cigar from him. On approaching the grave,
the prisoner walked quietly, but steadily forward, looked into it, and
turning round to me, said, in French, "it will do." But still more
to my surprise, yet with equal calmness, he walked up to his coffin,
and before I was aware of what he was about, with his middle finger
and thumb he measured its length, and turning round again to me, he
said, in French, which his corps generally spoke, "it will do also."
This was so far beyond any thing I had ever before witnessed, that I
found it necessary to direct the Provost to proceed with the execution
as quickly as possible; he therefore went up to the prisoner with a
handkerchief, and, as is customary, offered to bind up his eyes. He
however, pushed the Provost aside, exclaiming, in French, "I am a brave
soldier, and have often looked death in the face, and shall not shrink
from it now." The Provost then desired him, or rather made signs to
him, to kneel upon his coffin, but he replied, "I prefer standing, and
shall do so firmly." "Vive L'Empereur, vive Napoleon," were his last
words. The party fired, and in an instant he ceased to exist.

He was a Frenchman, and had been a prisoner of war for a considerable
time in England, but had been very improperly allowed to enlist into De
Meuron's regiment; which he had, no doubt, entered with the intention
of deserting the first opportunity which should present itself.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

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