jf42

Gentlemen- greetings, Those among you who know about these things may be able to help with a conundrum that has come up at Victorian Wars. I know some of you post there as well. I'm ashamed to say I have no idea how to trans-post any photo let alone one posted by someone. (I'll get there one day). However- In connection with a query about Highland Regiments wearing flashes on F.S. helmets circa 1880-1900, a question has arisen over a picture of some Gordon Highlander officers who would look to be in India ca 1868-80 and are all wearing small white-over-red hackles in the pagri of white FS helmets with spikes. Can anyone help cast light on this garnishing? Thanks, JF

Just to clarify that point from last year- The headgear distinction between flank companies in Highland regiments ended in 1829 (although flank companies were only finally abolished in 1858). Thenceforth until 1914 white hackles were worn in the feather bonnet across all of the Highland regiments, apart from the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment, The Black Watch. The green hackle might have something to do with the Highland Light infantry. That's a complete guess. The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) perhaps but less likely, I think. The Argylls, now 5th SCOTS, have adopted a green hackle since 2006. You might want to research the lineage of that. JF

Were not these hand-cranked weapons Gatling guns? I believe Hiram Maxim's recoil-operated, water-cooled maxims entered British service in 1889 and first proved themselves a little farther north in 'Matabele Land' ca 1893-94. Perhaps the distinction would have been lost on the warriors in the impis at Ulundi....

I'm sure somebody will indeed be able to supply a fuller and more expert answer but my understanding from reading in forums relating to 18th century warfare, is that even in the age of Frederick the Great, certainly in the British army, infantry in the field did not march or manoeuvre in strict cadence to a drumbeat. The function of the drums, and later bugles via the Light Infantry, was principally to relay commands but not to regulate movement. The squares at Ulundi and Omdurman, and in the earlier Sudan campaign as well, were hangovers from the muzzle-loading era useful for concentrating fire against mass attack from non-European adversaries. Perhaps drums were used for controlling volley fire and co-ordinating manoeuvres within brigades.

Regarding recent interest in Regimental traditions originating during the American War of Independence, there has been reference to the Royal Berkshire's 'Brandywine Flash' and the controversial night actions at Paoli and Old Tappan. Here's some background information. During the early years of the AWI, The 49th Foot (later 1st Royal Berkshires- ultimately the RGBWLI) had its light company seconded to the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, a composite unit formed from the light coys of the 40th, 43rd, 44th, 45th, 49th, 52nd, 55th, 63rd,
64th, 37th, 46th, 57th & 71st Regiments, all serving in General Sir William Howe's force assembled to put down the rebellion in the north east. (The First Light Infantry consisted of companies from: 4th, 5th, 10th,15th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 27th, 28th, 33rd, 35th, 38th and 42nd Regiments) In September 1777, following the British victory at Brandywine Creek, General Howe's advance to Philadelphia was being shadowed by Pennsylvanian General Anthony Wayne who was lurking with his division on the rear right flank of the column of march. Maj Gen Sir Charles Grey was sent with the 2nd LI, the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment and the 44th Regiment to deal with this threat. As the brigade advanced under cover of darkness and bad weather, Grey ordered that the force should attack with the bayonet alone and, to prevent their advance being given away, ordered that flints should be extract from muskets. At least one CO, Major John Maitland of the 2nd LI (A Marine, BTW), demurred and asked that weapons should simply remain unloaded. The Pennsylvanian division was caught in camp near the 'General Paoli' Tavern and withdrew in disorder although Wayne managed to organise a covering force to allow most of his men to escape. It was said that the Americans lost 400 men. The next day, 50 or so bodies were recovered around the camp. 70 prisoners were taken, many of them wounded and left behind with a British surgeon to supervise their care till Washington could provide medical treament of his own. Nonetheless, talk of a massacre quickly spread, with tales of wounded and unarmed prisoners being bayoneted out of hand and burning to death in their makeshift brush shelters. The 2nd Lights, in the first line of the assault, appear to have been singled out as the principal culprits, even though it was the 42nd, notoriously free with cold steel, acting as sweepers in the third line who set alight the enemy 'wigwams' and must have been equally in the frame. Nonetheless, the Lights were dubbed 'The Bloodhounds' and dark threats of vengeance were sent across the lines. After Philadelphia was occupied, the British occupied positions around Germantown to the north and awaited a counter attack from Washington. An ambitious American night advance caught the British on the hop and emerging from the October mists, a Pennsylvanian brigade found themselves advancing on piquets of the 2nd LI. With howls of "Have at the Blood Hounds!" they sent the Lights tumbling back towards the main position and, according to Wayne himself, bayonetted any they caught up with. The attack was checked in the end. After a fruitless eight month occupation, the British abandoned Philadlephia and returned to New York in June 1778. That autumn, the 2nd Lights were involved in another controversial night attack on an Light Dragoon outpost at Old Tappan in New Jersey. There were more stories of unarmed prisoners being 'skivered' out of hand. Shortly after, with regiments being withdrawn to form a force being sent to the West Indies, the two Light battalions in New York were amalgamated and that was the end of 'The Bloodhounds'. The first reference to red feathers doesn't appear till 1821, when an old general recorded a story he'd been told about his uncle, John Maitland, the Marine CO of the 2nd Lights. According to his informant, the normally impassive Washington was so outraged by reports of British ruthlessness in the incident at Tappan in September 1778, that he vowed he would get 'satisfaction'. Maitland was said to have responded by saying, to make the job easier, he would order his men to wear red feathers in their headgear to make sure they could be identified. However, within days of Tappan, Maitland is known to have transferred to the 71st Regiment (a Highland corps) as CO of the 1st Battalion and left for Georgia where he later died of fever. The story is a little ambiguous. The 71st Light Coy were prominent in the Tappan attack and it may have been them who were to be supplied with red feathers as they rejoined their regiment for the voyage to Savannah. Certainly, once in the South the 71st gave Washington further cause for resentment and plenty of opportunity to seek satisfaction. He got it at Cowpens and Yorktown. Also from 1821 comes another old General's memoir. In that year the 42nd, by then renowned as 'The Black Watch,' felt the need to claim the red vulture feather they wore in their bonnet as their own exclusive distinction. This was duly granted but when the Adjutant General's office asked for a written account of how the distinction had come to be adopted, no one could say for certain so they turned to General James Stirling. One of the longest serving officers of the Regiment, Stirling had begun his service in America. He stated categorically that at the beginning of that war when the composite battalions were being formed, the 2nd Light Infantry were given red feathers to wear and when the 42nd were brigade with them, Howe ordered them to wear a red feather as well- 'to make the whole uniform.' (This is, incidentally, also the first documented reference to origin of the 'red hackle' although ambiguous paintings survive from c.1790. According to Stirling, however, it was not until 1802 after the battle of Alexandria that the King officially granted the Black Watch the right to wear this 'American' red feather. Accounts of a royal award made seven years earlier did not emerge until the 1840s). Much of the detail of Stirling's account is inconsistent with the recorded facts and it is not entirely logical but it seems unlikely the old General had simply imagined both the 2nd LI and the Black Watch wearing red feathers. In 1833, when the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment returned from 19 years continuous service in Australia and India, it was noticed that their light company was wearing a red feather in their dress shako as opposed to the regulation green worsted 'ball-tuft' (i.e. pom-pom) ordered by regulations four years previously. Unfortunately we only have the Adjutant General Office's letter enquiring when the Light Coys red feather distinction was authorised and a second letter giving cordial acceptance of whatever explanation was supplied and granting the distinction. The letters from the 46th have not survived. However, we can assume that their account bore close relation to the story told 18 years later when the 'Historical Record of the 46th Regiment' was published 1851 as part of a series of regimental histories produced by the Adjutant General's office. This gives the earliest surviving version of the story behind the 46th Regiment's red feather. The Americans having vowed vengeance for the attack at Paoli (which they deemed a "massacre"), and that they would give no quarter, the soldiers of the Light Battalion declared that in order to prevent any one not engaged in the action from suffering on their account, that they would dye the feathers worn in their caps red, as a distinguishing mark, The Light Infantry's touching concern that their comrades should not have to answer for their deeds is a suitably Victorian twist on what, if it indeed happened, would be more credible as a simple act of bloody-minded defiance. Meanwhile, sometime in the 1820s the 49th Princess Louise's (Hertfordshire) Regiment, were recreating their Regimental records destroyed in 1813- appropriately while fighting the Americans in Upper Canada. The new Regimental Digest of Service noted a red feather was adopted by the light company during the AWI but managed to confuse the battle of Brandywine Creek with the night action at Paoli. However, In the case of the 49th, the tradition had not endured. It is worth pointing out that inspection reports for the light company of the 46th from after the AWI make no mention of a red feather, either. In 1858, flank companies were abolished and the 46th South Devonshires were granted a red 'ball-tuft' in their shakos as a Regimental distinction. In 1878 the introduction of the Blue Cloth Home Service helmet finally rendered the redundant ball-tuft obsolete and the 46th lost their 'red feather' distinction. When in 1881 the 46th were combined with the 32nd Cornwall Light Infantry to form the DCLI, an emblem of crossed feathers in the new regiment's helmet plate badge revived the tradition. A red patch worn behind a Light infantry bugle horn badge on the Field Service Cap was later introduced as a more appropriate form. This was then worn with the khaki serge Service Dress cap from 1905, the khaki F.S. cap (1937) and on the beret during the Second World War and after. Meanwhile the 49th had become the 1st Battalion, the Royal Berkshire Regiment. In 1934, it was decided for recruiting purposes to adopt a square, red patch behind the cap badge "to commemorate the part played by the Light Company of the 49th Regiment in action at Brandywine Creek" - the significance of the night action at Paoli was acknowledged at the time but soon forgotten. From the start, the red patch was known as the "Brandywine Distinction" and when after 1945 it was transformed into an inverted red triangle behind the beret badge, supposedly recalling a red plume, it came to be known as the 'Brandywine Flash.' It was worn as such by the Royal Berkshire Regiment and its descendants until the RGBWLI were absorbed into the The Rifles in 2007 and the red feather tradition was no more. It is ironic that in the 1960s soldiers in the KRRC- later 2 RGJ- were told the red backing to their cap badge was also a relic of campaigns in America. After the 60th Royal Americans' bloody victory over an Indian force, it was said, the feather's of the enemy dead were taken, dipped in their own blood and worn as trophies so the rest would know who it was who beat them. It never happened. When the 60th became a Rifle Regiment, they simply adopted the red facings of their 5th Rifle Battalion. The red badge backing didn't appear until the late 19th century. The tale was a garbled borrowing of the LI red feathers from the AWI and the 5th Northumberland Regiment's tradition of taking white feathers from fallen French grenadiers at St Lucie in 1778. When all the infantry were ordered to wear white feathers in 1829, the 5th were authorised to wear theirs with a red tip to continue their distinction and the legend grew up that this symbolised the blood of the dead French staining their white feathers. This hackle is still worn by the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. And so it goes...

I know how you feel. Where would it be appearing/have appeared?

Greetings- TO those many enthusiasts and former Fusiliers who might know, is there any record of the response of the Fifth to the order for all infantry to adopt white hat feathers in 1796? This does not appear to have produced the dismay caused by the 1829 Regulation that the Line should adopt white feathers. Did the fact that in 1796 the Fifth were away in Canada soften the blow? When the white battalion 'ball tufts' for the Infantry were dropped ca. 1844 on the adoption of the 'Albert' pattern shako with white-on-red battalion 'ball tufts' being resumed as before, was there any talk of reverting to the original white feather distinction- or had the unique red-on-white distinction become cherished for itself, setting apart the Fifth, as it did, from all other regiments? I suppose, once the Fifth had finally achieved Fusilier status in their own right, presumably the status of a white feather, despite the St Lucia tradition, did not have the same urgency that it had before. A final thought: is there any possibility that the 'Herd' Light Coy cap with its fine red horsehair crest might have been worn after 1778- or does the St Lucia tradition make that demonstrably unlikely? Many thanks.

What is the generally accepted opinion as to the source of the word 'assegai'? Forgive me if this has been covered already here, but I have read that Moorish light cavalry in the Iberian penninsula used a spear known which the Christians wrote as 'azegaya'. It occurred to me this loan word could have travelled south to the East coast of Africa with the Portuguese? Then again, I suppose it could have could it have come directly from Zanzibar. I should be interested to know. JF