So it is and has been with mine, which was first embodied at Ludlow,
in Shropshire, in 1689, from thirteen companies of soldiers, raised
specially in Wales, under Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, whose cousin,
Colonel Charles Herbert, M.P. for Montgomery, was killed, at the head
of the Fusileers, in his buff coat and cuirass, at the battle of
Aughrim, after having led them through a bog up to the waist belt,
under a terrible fire from the Irish. His successor, the valiant Toby
Purcell, who had been major of the regiment, greatly distinguished
himself at the battle of the Boyne, and the huge spurs, worn by him on
that memorable occasion, are _still_ preserved in the corps, being
always in possession of the senior major for the time being.
To attempt a memoir of the regiment would be to compile a history of
all the wars of Britain since the Revolution. Suffice it to say, that
on every field, in the wars of the Spanish Succession, those of
Flanders (where "our army swore so terribly"), at Minden, in America,
Egypt, and the ever-glorious Peninsula, the Welsh Fusileers have been
in the van of honour, and, like their Scottish comrades, might well
term themselves "second to none."
Among the last shots fired _after_ Waterloo were those discharged by
the Fusileers, when, on the 24th of June, six days subsequent to the
battle, they entered Cambrai by the old breach near the Port du Paris.
As it is common for corps from mountainous districts to have some pet
animal--as the Highlanders often have a stag--as a fond symbol to
remind them of home and country, the regiment has the privilege of
passing in review preceded by a goat with gilded horns, adorned with
ringlets of flowers, and a plate inscribed with its badge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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