A Soldier's Experience; or, A Voice from the Ranks: Showing the Cost of War in Blood and Treasure. A Personal Narrative of the Crimean Campaign, from the Standpoint of the Ranks; the Indian Mutiny, and Some of its Atrocities; the Afghan Campaigns of 1863Gowing, T. (Timothy)
History
A Soldier's Experience; or, A Voice from the Ranks: Showing the Cost of War in Blood and Treasure. A Personal Narrative of the Crimean Campaign, from the Standpoint of the Ranks; the Indian Mutiny, and Some of its Atrocities; the Afghan Campaigns of 1863
Gowing, T. (Timothy)
Crimean War, 1853-1856 -- Personal narratives
Another, a man of my company, was continually getting himself into
trouble. He had proved himself, from the commencement of the campaign, a
valiant soldier. About a month before Sebastopol fell, I gave him some
money with which to go and purchase some soap; at the same time Pat
asked for the loan of a couple of shillings. He did not turn up any more
that day. Next morning he was a prisoner in the guard tent. We all knew
that he was on his last legs; but as he was a general favourite with the
company, the men pitied him. Some were of opinion that his wit would not
forsake him when brought before the Commanding officer, and he told the
man who brought his breakfast to him that morning that he would get over
it with flying colours. In due course he was brought before the
tribunal and the charge read out--"Absent from camp, from 10 a.m. on the
15th August, until 5 a.m. 16th August." "Well, Welsh, you have heard the
charge. What have you got to say for yourself?" The old rogue pulled a
long face, and then commenced: "Shure, yer honour, the whole regiment,
you know, was very fond of our poor old Colonel Yea, that was kilt on
the 18th of June, and shure, yer honour, I would'nt tell ye a word of a
lie, but I wint and sat on the poor old jintleman's grave, and I sobbed
and sobbed, till I thought my heart would break, for sur, he was a
sodjur every inch of him; and shure, I fell asleep and slept till
morning, and then got up and walked to the guard tent." "Now Welsh, are
you telling the truth? for you know I promised you a Court Martial, if
ever you came before me again for absence." With both hands uplifted, he
exclaimed--"Och! shure yer honour, never a word of a lie in it." Some of
the young officers came to the rescue, and stated that they had
frequently seen men standing and sitting around the Colonel's grave; and
thus he got over it without punishment.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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