The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign WarsGrant, James
History
The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign Wars
Grant, James
British -- Foreign countries; Great Britain -- History, Military
In consideration of his son's brilliant services, the venerable Ewen
of Fassifern received a baronetcy, and in Kilmalie a monument has been
raised above the grave of the hero of Arriverette. Its epitaph is from
the pen of Sir Walter Scott, and is remarkable for the elegance of its
expression:--
"Sacred to the memory of Colonel John Cameron, eldest son of Ewen
Cameron of Fassifern, Bart., whose mortal remains, transported from the
field of glory where he died, rest here with those of his forefathers.
During twenty years of active military service, with a spirit which
knew no fear, and shunned no danger, he accompanied or led, in marches,
sieges, and battles, the 92nd Regiment of Scottish Highlanders, always
to honour and always to victory; and at length, in the 42nd year of his
age, upon the memorable 16th June, 1815, was slain in command of that
corps, while actively contributing to achieve the decisive victory of
Waterloo, which gave peace to Europe. Thus closing his military career
with the long and eventful struggle, in which his services had been so
often distinguished; he _died_, lamented by that unrivalled general,
to whose long train of success he had so often contributed; by his
country, from which he had repeatedly received marks of the highest
consideration, and by his sovereign, who graced his surviving family
with those marks of honour which could not follow, to this place, him
whom they were designed to commemorate. _Reader, call not his fate
untimely, who, thus honoured and lamented, closed a life of fame by a
death of glory!_"
Few of Camerons old comrades now survive. I know of only three officers
and four privates living of the regiment which, between the 27th
August, 1799, and the 18th June, 1815, had lost, in killed and wounded,
117 officers and 1634 men. After being discharged, Ewen M'Millan (who
could never learn one word of English) died, in 1840, at Callart, the
seat of Cameron's brother, and he now sleeps by his old master's side
at Kilmalie. He it is whose memory Scott has embalmed in his "_Dance of
Death_," and--
"Who for many a day
Had followed stout and stern,
Where through battles, rout, and reel,
Storm of shot and hedge of steel,
Led the grandson of Lochiel,
Valiant Fassifern!
Though steel and shot he leads no more,
Low laid 'mid friends' and foemen's gore
But long his native lake's wild shore,
And Suinart rough, and high Ardgower,
And Morven long and tell;
And proud Bennevis hear with awe,
How, upon Bloody Quatre Bras,
Brave Cameron heard the wild hurrah
Of conquest, as he fell!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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