6th RHEINBUND REGIMENT, SPAIN 1812

 Drum Major and Musician

 By R. J. Marrio

 Musician  Black hat, red pom pon, white loop and button. Medium blue coat with collar, cuffs and turnbacks. White piping and braid. White metal buttons. Dark blue trousers. Black gaiters and shoes. Brown overcoat roll carried on top of calfskin knapsack. Brown gourd. White belts and slings. Brass hilted sabre carried in brown leather scabbard.

Drum Major  Black colback with red plume and pom pon. Rose red bag with braid and tassel of gold. Gold cords. Brass chin scales. Medium blue coat with white collar, cuffs, lapels and turnbacks all braided with gold lace. Gold epaulettes. Yellow metal buttons. Rose red pantaloons with gold stripes and knots on the thighs. Black hussar boots trimmed with gold. White sword baldrick, brass hilted sword carried in a black leather scabbard fitted brass. Rose red sash trimmed with gold braid and two ornamental black drumsticks with brass embellishments. Gold sword strap and knot. Red brown wooden staff, fitted with yellow metal and bound with gold cord. Tassels gold.

Source  Frankfurt Collection

 THE RUSSIAN GOUSARI    1812

By Michael Robert Green

Russian military history takes special notice of the fast that the gousari where originally mercenaries recruited in Hungary during the reign of Empress Elisabeth. Twelve regiments were recruited between 1741 and 1759 as a bolster to the light cavalry arm, which consisted mainly of ill disciplined Cossacks.

 Although the gousari underwent considerable  Russification  during the half century prior to the Napoleonic Wars, their organisation and appearance remained essentially Hungarian. Even the word gousari was eventually pre empted in favour of the Hungarian translation, hussar, meaning  twentieth , denoting the one man in twenty selected by ballot for military service.

 The number of hussar  hussar  regiments rarely exceeded the original twelve. This owed, in part, to the companies within these regiments might total as many as twenty or as few as eight. Therefore, in 1812 , with the whole of western Europe aligned against her, Russia filled to capacity her existing hussar regiments rather than creating new ones. At the recommencement of hostilities in that year, there were still only twelve regiments  eleven of the line  one of the Guard. Individually, these were the Soum, Pavlograd, Elisavetograd, Marioupol, Alexandria, Olviopol, Isioum, Akhtyrsk, Bielo Rossisk  White Russian , Grodno, Loubny, and the elite Hussar Life Guards.

 Space denies individual coverage of each regiment s organisation, dress and appointments, so we shall speak in terms of generalities.

 By 1812, most regular cavalry regiments were organised according to squadrons. The hussars, however, entertained a  loose company , or half squadron, organisation  each half squadron approximating one hundred and forty horse.

 The function of the hussars was traditionally reconnaissance and pursuit. The nature of the 1812 campaign changed all of this. Quite a few regiments were attached to Platov s corps whose task it was to harry and cripple the French as they floundered across the Russian wastes. The hussars were, therefore, the ushers of a new, more sinister form of combat   guerillas warfare. Although not guerrillas in the literal sense, the hussars conducted their business with such deliberation and savagery that one western observer, Sir Robert Wilson, mistook them for Cossacks.

 The uniform of the hussars was modelled after the Hungarian national costume and each regiment had its own colour scheme. The principal head dress was the distinctive Russian kiwer. Adopted in 1811, the kiwer was an exaggerated form of bell topped shako, approximately 200 mm. in height, with a concave crown. The uniform jacket, or dolman, was waist length and closefitting. This was sometimes worn under or in conjunction with the with the pelisse, a wait length, fur lined over garment. The lining of the pelisse was white or grey for officers, fawn for trumpeters, and black for all enlisted ranks.

The Hussar Life Guards, however, wore white fur exclusively. Both the pelisse and dolman boasted 13 or 15 rows of braid and buttons positioned horizontally across the front of both garments. A barrel sash was worn about the waist with the barrels co ordinated to the colour scheme of the uniform. The trousers were close fitting and decorated at the thigh with ornate embroidery known, appropriately enough, as  Hungarian knots . Boots were of two types  the first were fancy Hungarian Boot  with a  V  slit and tassel to the front  the second were black knee boots, rounded at the top, worn only for undress orders.

 The equipment of hussar regiments was fairly standard  one pistol  carbine  lyadunka  cartridge pouch   and a sword, sword belt, and sabretache. The pistol, a ponderous, single shot model, was carried beneath the saddlecloth. The carbine, or mousqueton, was suspended from a white shoulder belt by means of a crochet, or swivel hook. The sabre, Russian Model 1801, was rather short and massive by western standards. It was housed in a brass scabbard which bore three hexagonal inserts of black leather. The sabretache, hung from the left hip, usually complemented the principal colour of the uniform. The centre of the sabretache bore a crown above the Emperor s monogram.

 Horse furniture followed western European patterns.

A saddle was concealed beneath an elongated saddle cloth with a dog s tooth edging. The cloth and edging were colored to match the uniform and uniform facings respectively, and bore a crown and monogram in the lower corner. The bridle, surcingle, and crupper, etc. were all of black leather. The iron stirrups were oblong in shape and painted flat black. Guard s officers had several black silk appurtenances added to this inventory. These consisted of ornamental tassels,  tulips , and nets   all of an oriental pattern   which added a touch of medieval glamour to their mounts.

 The hussar costume lent itself naturally to colorful interpretation and no two regiments had the same scheme. For sake of space and convenience, the colour combinations of all regiments are listed at right in chart form.

A story taken from Tradition Magazine No.76
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THE TIGERS OF INDIA

An account of the 17^th. Leicestershire Regiment
In the First Afghan War 1838-42

By P. Griffin

Whilst Wellington s Army marched to victory over the scorched Iberian plains, their compatriots in the Indian Army were fighting from India s steaming interior to her northern mountains of the warrior Ghurka in the year of Waterloo. In 1825, two years after its homecoming from India. King George IV bestowed upon the Leicestershire Regiment the emblem of the Royal Tiger as a testimony of its excellent service in the subcontinent, subsequently earning its nickname  The Tigers.

In 1831 the regiment once again embarked for the Indian Ocean, this time guarding convict ships bound for van Diemen s Land. But after years of policing duties in New South Wales, 1836 found it sailing again for Bombay, the last companies reaching the camp at Poona early in 1837 where, a year later, General Fitzgerald s inspection report found the 17^th Foot  highly creditable.

The year 1838 dawned on to a troubled Afghanistan, internal strife and intrigue weakened the country, laying it open to expansionist Russia. Seeing the danger the British envoy in Kabul, opened negotiations with the Emir, Dost Mahomed. But the talks foundered on the Peshawar problem, an Afghan city overrun by the British backed Sikhs, resulting in Lt. Colonel Burnes  failure to make the alliance. The Russian envoy, however, was more successful, and promised to destroy the enemies of the Emir, but when, ultimately, the Emir s hated nephew, Prince Kamran, still threatened his reign, the shaky treaty melted away. Too late, unable again to trust the Emir, the Raj undertook to replace him with a British puppet, the exiled Shah Soojah ool Moolk. 

August 1838 and orders were given for the assemblage of the Army of the Indus, which in the coming cold weather would cross that great river for the invasion of Afghanistan. Leaving a token force in Poona, the regiment sailed from Bombay mustering 30 officers and 595 other ranks under Lt. Colonel Croker. After landing in Scinde, it was brigaded with the 2^nd Queens Royals, and the 4^th Dragoons into the Bombay Division under Sir John Keane. Through hostile country they followed the course of the river, and eventually took the Scinde capital, Hyderabad. March 1839 found the Tigers effecting a passage of the Indus over a bridge of boats built by engineers of the Bengal Division two months previously, en route from the Punjab. This division, under General Cotton, was forcing the Bolan Pass meanwhile but starving under the ineptitude of the commissariat. At the peak of its strength, the Bengal force comprised of the Queen s soldiers, the 16^th Lancers, 13^th Foot and the 3^rd Buffs. The Company s contribution had the European Regiment, two regiments of native horse and twelve sepoy battalions, some 9,000 men in all. Trudging along behind came Soojah s own force consisting of two cavalry regiments, four of infantry, and a troop of horse artillery, totalling 6,000 Indians under European officers. Trailing after this entourage was an unbelievable volume of camp followers and baggage animals. 38,000 drivers, servants, and general hangers on slowed the whole to a crawl, carrying every  necessity for the officer on campaign.

After an uncomfortable trek the Tigers reached the Bolan Pass, an awesome valley with gloomy crags rising precipitously above a wretched track over which, weeks before, the Bengal Army s giant siege guns were painfully hauled for two weeks. Leaving the pass they entered the dry Dusht i be doulut or Unhappy Desert, daily fighting their way toward Candahar to merge with their sister division. Here, eventually, the Army of the Indus was complete, General Keane newly promoted to command it. Held up in Candahar, awaiting the corn harvest, the redcoats soon tired of its filthy, narrow streets. On 30^th June now under Brigadier General Willshire, C. in C. of the Bombay Division, the 17^th broke camp to mach through arid hills into the hostile land of the Ghilzee, where, on July 21^st, the army gathered before Ghuznee, a fortress of great strength garrisoned by 3,000 Afghans. Situated on his proposed supply line, Keane had to capture this stronghold.

The regiments selected for the assault were the 2^nd, 13^th, 17^th and Bengal European, the light companies of which formed the avant garde. A plan was conceived to blow up the partly built Kabul gate and the operation fell to a Bengal engineer officer, Captain Thomson. On the windy night of July 22^nd, shielding the 900 pounds of gunpowder from the driving rain, the sappers stealthily ignited the fuse, before dashing to the cover of the 13^th  Somerset Light Infantry . All this time the defenders were diverted by a light artillery bombardment elsewhere on the bastion. The explosion signalled the forlorn hope into the breach where the falling scimitars played havoc into the light infantry. Resistance quickly dissolved under the repetitive volleys, however, and by first light Colonel Donnie s vanguard was manning the ramparts, closely followed now by the grenadiers of the main storming party surging over the smouldering timbers to bayonet the screaming infidel. Many n Afghan sold his life dearly, but soon the lower town succumbed until only the citadel stood defiant. It required little effort, for Colonel Croker to seize the citadel and observe his Tigers cheer the raising of their regimental flag above the highest tower. The 17^th s spirit was afterwards illustrated by their wounded refusing to lie abed whilst their comrades hobbled on to Kabul. The British had lost 17 and 165 wounded, of that the Leicesters sustained only one private killed, while upwards of 1,000 Afghans were buried by the victors. An interesting observation was made by General Havelock, of the General Staff, at this time. After the siege it appeared that sword cuts healed quickly and the customary acts of plunder failed to occur. The teetotal Havelock attributed this state of affairs to the fact that the rum ration, hitherto considered essential to active serviceman, had given out two weeks previously.

A week later, outside Kabul, the brigades formed up to march triumphantly through the forsaken capital, where Dost Mohamed s cause was lost, his troops irresolute. In gratitude, Shah Soojah, reinstated Kings of Afghanistan, nominated British officers members of his newly instituted. Dooranee Empire  Lt. Colonel Croker and Majors Pennycuick and Deshon honoured the 17^th. The regiment was further honoured in Kabul, when General Keane chose them to form the guard of honour for the entry, into the city, of Soojah s son, Timar Khan. It was originally planned to leave with Soojah a small supporting force, but in fact an Army of Occupation the Bengal Division was left to support the unpopular Shah.

So, on September 18^th, 1839, the Bombay force ponderously made its way south en route for India. Returning by their approach road they reached Quetta where it was decided to eradicate the menace of Mehrab Khan of Khelat, following his hindrance of the army months before. The 2^nd and 17^th Foot, the 31^st Bengal N.U., two howitzers, four six pounders, and a cavalry escort were the angry Khan snarled down at his pending doom.

On three heights outside of the town the Khan had arrayed infantry supported by three guns. Willshire calculated the need to clear these hills before the siege. Directing his howitzers on them, the Baluchis broke and cascaded downhill towards the gate, pursued hotly by Major Pennycuick s vanguard, hoping for an easy entry. The gates allowed the Afghans safety and slammed shut, forcing the skirmishers into the cover of a nearby low wall, where they returned the galling fire from the ramparts. This allowed Willshire to site his cannon, just 200 yards from the unsuspecting gate defenders. After a short cannonade the demolished gate were stormed by Pennycuick s companies, followed closely by the main column. They met a heavy resistance, with every inch of ground disputed. At one point, an Afghan chief surrendered his sword to Colonel Croker who, turning momentarily, was seized by his prisoner. The colonel extricated himself with some difficulty, to find his assailant despatched with several sword and bayonet wounds.

Prior to the regiment taking the town, Major Deshon had been detached with two companies to the south gate to cut off the enemy s  retreat in that direction  Captain Darley with the light company, being ordered to the right for the same purpose. Meanwihle, moving through the dusty streets, the Tigers of Pennyquick s advance guard, repelling some desperate sword attacks, came upon an outer gate of the citadel. This they opened by applying the muzzles of about a dozen muskets to the lock and firing them off together. With access they entered a subterranean passage, perfectly dark, near the head of which a sudden rush was made by the enemy and followed a scene of indescribable confusion. When order was restored, the enemy retreated into a small court. This was the inner citadel where Mehrab Khan stood at bay with his chiefs, only to fall in the ensuing melee, a musket ball through his heart. Soon afterwards the hard core surrendered  as at Ghuznee so at Khelat, a reputedly impregnable fortress had fallen to the British in a matter of hours. The regiments roll call revealed six dead.

By the new year the regiment had crossed into Scinde, marching to the port of Kurrachee, to discover that, although their part in the Afghan campaign was finished, their adventures were not yet over.

On February 6^th, 1840, they boarded the ship Hannah and the next morning set sail for Bombay. But that night whilst under full sail, the Hannah ran on to a sandbank and slowly took water. A report on the wreck in the Bombay Gazette, March 30^th, 1840, says

 The clothing of the 17^th Foot is all lost, and the arms and accoutrements either lost or ruined. Treasure and mess plates have shared the same fate. The Khelat jewels are gone and much prize property is said to be hopelessly lost, and many valuables of the   Heroes of Khelat, worth thousands of rupees.
 

Rescued by men of the Indian Navy, the reluctant mariners were taken on board a passing steamer thence safely on to Bombay. The Bombay force was dissolved, but what of the Bengal Division?

In Kabul Burnes had wrongly advised the reduction of military strength in the capital, and the 1^st Brigade, under General Sale, departed for India by way of Jalalabad. Moving through the eastern passes, the Brigade cut a path trough the barbarous Ghilzye tribes, only to learn through desperate letters of appeal, of the need for their return to help quell the rising rebellion  But Sale could not risk the remnants of his command.
 

 The night of the long knives had come and women, sepys, and children were gleefully slaughtered alike. The Kabul mob made short work of  Burnes and his residency. The remaining force, under General Elphinstone, were obliged, with no signs of reinforcement, to follow Sale s route in retreat. Apart from the captured few the column, daily more incapacitated from the intense cold, perished heroically under the Afghan horde. Only a few reached the British garrison, where orders were given for a great beacon to shine throughout the nights to come. Buglers sounded every half hour, their warm tones reaching into the darkness only to fall vainly on to the cold rocky road, infested with the dead.

Sources

The Leicester Regimental Museum.
Webb  History of the Services of the Leicestershire Regiment .
Macrory   Signal Catstrophe .
Kaye Afghan War .
Simkin Prints.

 A story taken from Tradition Magazine No.33
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THE SEA CAVALIER

 By Norman Tucker

Left with only three ships Rupert was undismayed. When in the harbour of Toulon he was joined by his brother Maurice who had been missing for some time. The writer of the account of Rupert s voyages at this time records   His Highness, seeing himself reduced to three sail, strained the utmost of his treasure, and bought another, which was named the Honest Seaman . Rupert, in this harbour also experienced a noble gesture on the part of  an English gentleman, called Captain Craven , who had a ship at Marseilles. This man showed his royalist sympathies by taking out a commission under Prince Rupert, and, anchoring his own vessel with the royalist ships, offered it to the Prince. The ship thus generously given was re named the Loyal Subject. With five ships Rupert now put to sea and steered for the Barbary Coast  North Africa  where he captured a Genoa ship, and soon after a Spanish galleon homeward bound from the Indies. By flying the Parliament s flag, he was able to get the Spanish officers to come on board his flagship. He then took their ship and put the officers ashore. Turning his back on the Mediterranean, Rupert now headed for Madeira, which belonged to Portugal and where he looked for a friendly welcome. During the Civil War Rupert was admired for his dash and bravery. He now showed a cooler kind of courage by refusing to accept defeat and pushing on with his ambitious scheme in spite of his reverses. Secretly he planned to sail for what he called  the Western Isles , but he kept the secret to himself for fear that some of his officers and men would object to crossing the Atlantic. Rupert felt that were royalists in the West Indies who would help them, and that he could have a harbour there   something denied him in Europe. He also reasoned that it would cost the Parliament a lot of trouble and money to attack him. It was the only way, he finally told his crews, that they had of making their fortunes, and to please them he put into the Canary Isles, hoping to capture more ships there but he found none. A council of war decided upon the Azores as their next place of call, and to this destination they went, capturing another Spanish galleon on their way. Having taken on board provisions they sailed for the West Indies. 

Here disaster awaited them. The Constant Reformation sprang a leak which defied all attempts to check. As the weather grew worse, so did the leak. The pumps could not cope with the water. SO desperate were the men that they endeavoured to plug the leak by thrusting  into it  one hundred and twenty pounds of raw beef . Guns were heaved overboard, but efforts were useless.

The flagship in which was stored most of the treasure was doomed. The crew tried to persuade Rupert to escape by boat to his brother s ship because of his value to the royal cause, but he refused to leave his comrades who had stayed by him in all his misfortunes. The men loved Rupert and thought otherwise. Secretly they hoisted out a boat into which was put a crew of undaunted lads and then, taking the Prince by surprise, they forced him into the boat and rowed him to his brother s ship. Then the flagship went down with 333 men   whose actions speak their merits , wrote the man who told the story. Rupert was overcome with grief for a time, but his troubles were only starting. The Royal Subject struck a rock and was lost. And then, an even greater disaster, occurred.

The Honest Seaman with Prince Maurice on board was caught in a hurricane off Hispaniola and lost with all hands.

Rupert, crushed by the loss of his favorite brother, now felt that, with only one ship left, he must return to Europe. He turned towards the Azores where they had  taken stores on board, These islands were the recognized  half way house for ships crossing the Atlantic. There was no friendly reception this time. Shots from the forts warned him off. He could not go to England  Spain was his enemy  Portugal had come to terms with the Parliamentarians  only France remained as a possibly place of refuge. The lone ship and her weary crew sailed for the mouth of the Loire. Though they entered the river in safety Rupert s troubles were not yet ended. The ship, going up river, ran on a sandbank and was only refloated whit great trouble. Then she was left in harbour to be refitted. Rupert went ashore only to be taken ill  suffering doubtless from the strain of all he had been forced to endure. His ship seems to have been destroyed by fire for the scribe states  like a grateful servant  having brought her princely master through so many dangers, she consumed herself, scoring after being quitted by him, that any inferior person should command her.

Rupert received a grateful letter from Charles II. Later Rupert was able to call on his kingly cousin but he was unable to relieve his poverty for the great adventure had brought little reward. Rupert, heartsick at the death of Prince Maurice and so many comrades, retired to Germany where he lived for years the life of a country gentleman.

He was now able to develop another side of his character. He was an artist of considerable skill, as his pictures remain to prove. After the Restoration he waited until England had settled to its new existence as a monarchy and then quietly returned to the land he loved.

When in 1665 the Dutch War broke out, Prince Rupert, who had given proof of his seamanship, was called out of retirement and entrusted  jointly with the Duke of York, the King s brother  with the command of a huge fleet of over a hundred ships which sailed to meet one of equal size which had put off from Holland.

According to Sir Geoffrey Callender, each fleet stretched over fourteen miles. The battle off Lowestoft ended in a victory for the English fleet. The next year the Dutch again put to sea and the  Four Days Battle  followed in which Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle  Monck  met their match. Both fleets finally stopped fighting from sheer weariness. Two month later the Dutch were defeated but had their revenge by sailing up the Thames, burning three English warships, and towing the Royal Charles back to Holland as a prize.

Rupert was now allowed to remain on shore, but he encouraged exploration. He helped to form a company trading with Africa and founded the famous Hudson s Bay Company to develop the fur trade with Canada. His introduced to this country what is known as mezzotint engraving, and invented a novelty called Rupert s Drops. The drop was a glass globe which could be struck hard on the side but shattered at a touch when the end was tapped. It was useless but amused many people and was popular.

In 1673 Rupert was called away from his science experiments again to take charge of a fleet, this time in the Third Dutch War. He was commander in chief, but the battle off The Texel was drawn because a French fleet was supposed to support him failed to play its part.

 This was the last time, Rupert served as a Sea Cavalier. He died at the age of sixty three in 1682 after a few days illness, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Though the prince s father was German, Rupert seems to have inherited much from his English mother  the sister of Charles I  and he liked the English way to life. Both on land and sea  Rupert of the Rhine  left a name which is remembered with honour in the land of his adoption.

Based largely on Wilburton s  life of Rupert.