Nottingham, April 29, 1857.
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I have proved by living officers, generals, and noblemen that my
statement is the living truth to-day, although 43 years have passed. Yet
this Colonel Benson was allowed to turn Her Majesty’s and Prince
Consort’s Noble Order and the Royal Warrant into mockery and the Victoria
Cross into a sham. He was the cause of me receiving an official letter,
dated 8th October, 1857, stating that all claims for the Victoria Cross
must be founded upon facts. This Colonel Benson wrote the most cruel
false statements to the Commander-in-Chief, and was the cause of me
purchasing my discharge out of the 17th Lancers, and then losing
promotion in the Yeomanry. He made false statements respecting my being
promoted to sergeant. I can prove I was promoted in November, 1854, and
he did not arrive in the Crimea till 22nd February, 1855. I have
received all kinds of official letters telling me they see no reason to
open my case. I received an official letter dated 22nd February, 1892,
stating that the case cannot now be opened. If a brave British soldier
cannot be heard by the authorities, what can he do but appeal to his
countrymen? Truth never dies.
The royal warrant states, that for the Victoria Cross there shall be no
preference of age or rank, and the youngest soldier shall be rewarded for
valour.
My next article will be to prove that all claims for the Victoria Cross
are not founded upon facts. Yet they wear it just the same. I will also
prove by their own official letters I never had an investigation.
For myself I have the proud consciousness of having done my duty to Queen
and country.
Fought Under Two Flags,
AND A RECORD SECOND TO NONE FOR VALOUR.
[Picture: Death or glory flags, skull etc.]
NO British soldier that I ever read about did more distinguished proved
valour. I received a letter from Major Jervis, late 13th Light Dragoons,
dated December 5th, 1876. He says amongst other things “that he well
remembers a young corporal of the 17th Lancers helping him to take the
gun,” and from the fact named in my letter, it could be none other than
myself.
I received a letter from Lord Tredegar, dated December 9th, 1876. In
which he says, “that he well remembers, after the regiment had retired a
short distance, I asked permission to go back and bring in Cornet
Cleveland who lay in the thickest of the fire, mortally wounded.” See
his other letter, in my sworn claim for the Victoria Cross, General Sir
Drury Lowe, K.C.B., in answering a letter to me said “if he could do me
any service he would be happy to do it,” several officers wrote me at the
same time to the same effect. I was holding the position of Regimental
Sergeant-Major in the Yeomanry, and in charge of head quarters and
stores. I explained this to them and thanked them, telling them I was
well off. I am Sir Drury Lowe’s oldest Non-Commissioned Officer, I
served under him all the time he was in the Crimea and in Ireland, and
when he commanded a detachment in Clonmel. In the Baida Valley he came
to my assistance several times, once at Prince Challertoff’s residence,
when I charged the Russians and took back the waggons of the Land
Transport. I was on picquet duty with Lieutenant Barbour, some Greeks
came into the picquets on little ponies, and explained to us the Russians
were stealing. Lieutenant Barbour took all the picquet and left me in
charge of the Videtts; being absent longer than I liked, I sent a man who
was very sick into camp, explaining the matter to now Sir Drury Lowe, who
commanded the 17th, telling him I had no men to patrole with, he did not
send any reinforcements, but came himself with the regiment. He lost no
time in getting to me and remained in command till Lieutenant Barbour
returned with two Russian Greek spies, who tried to decoy his command
into a village in which the Russian Cavalry were hiding. Sir Drury Lowe
was loved by all men and I never heard or knew an enlisted man to say any
thing but kindness respecting him. I was in Aldershot when he commanded
the regiment, and I was in the Sergeants Mess. I heard Sergeant-Major
Davis repeat that he would sooner soldier under Colonel Lowe without pay
than any other officer with pay and the rest shouted “hear hear.”
There is an old proverb that “Comparisons are odious” and it cannot be
better proved than by Colonel Drury Lowe and Colonel Benson, both
commanded the 17th Lancers. The latter was never under fire in the
Crimea. He was the only officer that flogged the soldiers. I saw him
flog three at once at Ismid, who rode in the charge of the “600,” one of
them had 17 wounds upon his back, all bleeding, through the lashes of the
Cat o’ Nine Tails. I saw tears running down the officers cheeks. This
Colonel Benson is the only officer that drummed out any men of the 17th
Lancers, some of whom had ridden in the charge of the “600.”
Sir Drury Lowe, when Colonel, had a Regimental Sergeant-Major in the name
of Brown, every soldier in the 17th Lancers had the greatest respect for
him and officers too.
Colonel Benson had a Regimental Sergeant-Major Wooden, a foreigner, that
could not speak the English language when he joined the regiment, went by
the name of Tish-me. Colonel Benson went by the name of Dosey, he always
looked as if he was asleep. But when he played at cards with young
officers they found he was not dreaming. Colonel Benson and this Wooden,
their teeth fit in their jaws like Hyenas. Every officer and soldier
feared them.
Sergeant-Major Wooden was allowed to insult officers, one leaving the
regiment through the bad language he used to him. I can name three
sergeants out of one troop that left the 17th Lancers through him, and
they all rode in the “Charge of the 600.” Colonel Benson procured him
quarter-master of the 5th Lancers, and the commanding officer soon had
him retired on the smallest allowance, 3/6 per day. It was Colonel
Benson who secured his promotion as quarter-master of some infantry, but
he soon got into debt and shot himself. It was the same officer who
procured him the Victoria Cross and the French Order, although he never
crossed swords with a Russian, and all those who knew anything concerning
him, and who were in the “Charge of the 600,” say he threw himself off
his horse. It is a well-known fact that he never went to the Battle of
Inkerman, but drew our grog and got dead drunk with it.
Sir Drury Lowe, purchased Regimental Sergeant-Major J. Brown a
commission, and appointed him adjutant of the regiment. I will undertake
to prove all I have said, and more, by officers and soldiers now living.
Colonel Benson was the means of me losing promotion by writing lies to
the Duke of Cambridge. The Duke of Newcastle, my commanding officer,
read Benson’s letter and told me he should believe Colonel Benson’s
statement before mine. He promised afterwards that if I would not write
any more letters something would be done for me. That promise was never
fulfilled, for he promoted a sergeant over my head in the name of Smith.
Through General Charles Frederick Havelock, who became Inspector of
Cavalry at Washington, D.C., I left the regiment and went to America. I
went with him to inspect the 12th Pennsylvanian Cavalry at the time the
regiment had just been mustered into the United States Service, and was
appointed Drill Instructor to the regiment.
At the battle of Bull Run I saved the regiment from being captured, my
horse being killed and myself taken prisoner. When I returned to the
regiment I received a commission and all back pay and allowances which
amounted to some hundreds of pounds. They also paid me for horse and
equipments. I was in all the stirring engagements. I was second in
command in Dismounted Camp in Pleasant Valley, Maryland, to equip all
cavalry without horses, and was afterwards Assistant Commissariat in
Pleasant Valley. I was then appointed Assistant Inspector of Cavalry,
with Major Gordon, for the department of Western Virginia. I was in
Libby prison for twelve months, and while I was there 109 made their
escape by making a tunnel. I was in when powder was laid down to blow us
all up.
During the time I was prisoner of war, General Cesnola saw me compelled
to be vaccinated. The matter turned out bad, my left side and arm
swelled to such a degree that I was compelled to lay on the floor for
months, my brother officers believing I should die.
During the war I received a bullet in my head, and it remained in for
eight years.
One of the worst running fights I ever was in was when General Max Weber
sent me from Harper’s Ferry, Va., to Charlestown to capture fifteen of
the enemys cavalry. I was allowed to pick thirty horses and men. After
we had advanced about five miles we saw them and pursued, we found two
thousand with two guns. Two squadrons charged us and we had a fight with
revolvers for four miles, till close to the forts. I lost twenty-one out
of the thirty men. This was on the 29th June, 1864. The United States
paid me for two horses killed in battle.
I am the only officer that knew the plans which General Grant used to
capture Richmond in nine days. I also assisted General L. P. Di Cesnola
to make out these plans and forward them to President Lincoln. I saved
General Cesnola’s life. My horse was killed in a charge in the night,
and it lay on me till the sun rose. Through being a freemason I was
bandaged up. I heard that General Cesnola was wounded and I went to his
assistance. He had a sword cut in the head, was shot in the thick part
of the arm, the point of a sword through the palm of the hand, and horse
killed whilst leading his brigade in a charge. I attended to him and
dressed his wounds. I stayed with him, and managed to hire horses and
conveyances to travel a distance of 150 miles to Stanton Va. He is now,
and has been for years, Managing Director of the Metropolitan Museum of
Art and Central Park, New York. He often writes thanking me for saving
his life. I was introduced to him when he was Colonel of the 4th New
York Cavalry, by Major-General C. F. Havelock, at Washington, who knew
him when he was on Field Marshal Marmouer’s Commander-in-Chief’s Staff of
the Italian Army, in the Crimea. I received second and first
lieutenant’s and captain’s commissions on the field of battle, and have
them now.
I resigned after the war and returned home and joined the Ayrshire
Yeomanry as drill troop sergeant-major, 1st of January, 1868. In June
1871 I was promoted regimental sergeant-major in charge of headquarters
and stores. I remained with them till June, 1877. I was so well liked
in Ayr that they gave me, an Englishman, the birth place of Robert Burns
on lease, in preference to hundreds of Scotchmen. In a few years the
place was sold to the gentleman of the county for thousands of pounds
more than they asked me for it. I was the last lessee of the place.
Only three persons were born in this house, these being the poet himself
and two of my children, one of whom is still living in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. I took another business, but it did not do well, the rent
being too high—£600 a year.
I then went to America, and in a few years I thought I should be better
off under the government. In April 1884 I called upon Senator Morrell,
the father of the house of the Senate, and went with him to interview the
Hon. Robert Lincoln, the Secretary for War, who informed me that he could
not give me the first place as he had promised it. In a few days I got
an appointment and received pay on it till the end of 1893. Mr. Lincoln
afterwards became Ambassador to England. On the 9th of May, 1863, I was
employed in the government building, in which President Lincoln was
assassinated, when part of the building fell, killing 25 and injuring
nearly 200. I was one of the latter, and being unable to perform my
duties was discharged. I applied to the Patriotic Fund in London for aid
out of the money the people of England subscribed—five children depending
upon me at the time. I received a reply telling me I was not entitled to
anything. This is the first and only time in my life I ever asked for
assistance.
Some time after I ceased to receive pay. I then took the official letter
of the Patriotic Fund, dated October 18th, 1894, to Senator J. Hawley.
He said, “Why did you not come to me before, I would have put you back.”
I told him I was not able to do anything. “Then what can I do for you?”
he said. I replied that I wanted a place for my wife in the Treasury.
He said, “I am sorry for your sake, I do not belong to that
administration, but I will get her a place.” Three days after she was
employed in the Treasury till we came to England. I have never been able
since the Ford Theatre disaster to do any employment. I lived in Leek,
Staffordshire, for sixteen months, and the chief of police and several of
the magistrates, doctors and chemists of the town, know that I was sick
in bed nearly all the time, and have been sick in Nottingham this last
five months, but the climate seems to agree with me better, being my own
native place.
I shall ever be grateful to America. It is a Heaven for a soldier. They
never want, if a good record. If they cannot work they have Soldiers
Homes to retire in; better looking than any Hotel in Nottingham. If they
die their relatives receive ten pound to carry them to the finest
Cemetery in the world; with marble head-stone, and their graves strewn
with flowers every 30th of May. Any soldier with a record can get relief
and forwarded to his destination. The Americans are the finest comrades
in the world, and they are the only nation that can fight side by side
with the British, they would understand one another and be proper chums,
while other nations do not understand one another. You would require an
interpreter to understand their names; much more work together in battle.
I have attended many fires and assisted to put them out, about 1860 I
went to a fire at Mr. Hollins’ mills, near Pleasley, Derbyshire, no finer
mills in England. After the fire engines were on some time, I told Mr.
Hollins they were on the wrong side, and he had them removed to the other
side. I told him the fire was on the top story and they put up ladders
to reach it. No one man seemed to be able to carry the hose and leather
pipes up. I told him it would be dangerous for many to be up so high
when the water was put on, it would make it too heavy for the ladder.
After several tried I took it up myself, broke in the window with a
hammer, put in the hose and in half an hour or less I got inside, put out
the fire and went down the stairs. I then walked to Mr. Hollins’ House,
their dinner was on the table, and the room full of ladies and gentlemen;
no one seemed to be dining. After I told Mr. Hollins I had put out the
fire, I sat down and dined. He wanted to reward me, but I would not
receive anything, and he placed me on his game list. I should not speak
of this, only there are plenty of ladies and gentlemen living who can
bear out this statement.
About 1874, I was walking up High Street, in Ayr, N.B., I saw a great
blaze in the second story of Mr. Semple’s the largest Ironmonger in the
town, and in the centre of the market space. I procured a bag of salt
and went up stairs with it, the oil had caught fire in a large tank; in
less than ten minutes I had it out, only Robert Reed was in the room.
Mr. Semple sent me a handsome present.
If I was to give my life in full it would make a book. If my health gets
better I will write fuller.
[Picture: Decorative graphic]
Cause of the “Charge of the 600”
BY THE “MAN OF THE HOUR.”
* * * * *
Never before been published.
[Picture: Death or glory flags, skull etc.]
To be obtained of all Booksellers in the United Kingdom and
United States of America.
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