The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-29 00:00:00

'ATH OF SERGEANT J. CAMPBELL
(Late of the 78th Highlanders).

On my arrival in London the other day from the
Muriee Hills, in the Himalayas, I received intelli-
gence of Sergeant Campbell's death, which took
place in Aberdeen on the 31st of January last. On
the day of his death I was at the Tropic of Capri-
corn, on the Indian Ocean. The letters and papers
referring to Sergeant Campbell were in the pos-
session of my sisterin Munss, which will account for
this notice so long after his death, but I have been
able to collect a few facts of Sergeant Campbell's
life, death, and funeral. As he was well known
in Inverness in his early days, I trouble you with a
short account of his military life. I also send for
your perusal a few letters, and extracts of letters,
received from the classical historian of the Penin-
sular War, from his brother the conqueror, and the
then governor of Scinde, from Colonel M'Murdo,
and from his Grace the Duke of Argyll, which will
show the respect in which he was held, though only
a non-commissioned officer. Sergeant Campbell
was the eldest son of the late Mr. Murdoch Camp-
bell, gardener. He studied gardening with his
father, and had an extensive knowledge of botany,
a fine taste for landscape gardening, and was a great
admirer of everything beautiful in nature and in the
arts. His attachment to old soldiers was so great
that he would listen night after night to the tales
of the wars. He was particularly fond of the music
of the Highlands, its legends, and songs. While
pursuing the study of gardening he enlisted in the
78th Highlanders as a private soldier, in the city of
Aberdeen, which good old city he has made choice
of as his last earthlyresting-place. He was employed
for some time in the recruiting service in Aberdeen,
where he was very successful, and was similarly
engaged in Edinburgh for a considerable time before
the regiment went to India in 1842. On the ar-*
rival of the regiment in the Scinde country, in 1843,
he was appointed sergeant-major in one of the
newly-raised regiments, the first Beloochee
battalion, or, as they. were called, Campbell's
Corps, where he remained for upwards of three
years. On the arrival of the 78th in Scinde
the following incident occurred, which shows the
providential escape he had from drowning. He
writes :—" The company to which I belonged left
Bombay. on the 18th of December, in the frigate
Ackland. I remained on board to see all my com-
pany's baggage put on shore. We lay about two
and a half miles from land, and about seven miles
from camp. We Jost the tide, and had to remain
in the boats till the tide came up again. I was so
eager to be with the company that another Sergeant
and I left part of the regiment, and were making for
the camp across the beach, the nearest way we could
get. This was in the evening, just about the time
that the sun was setting. We continued our route
till it was quite dark, and by that time we were
fairly done up for want of everything—both shoes
and stockings were lost—and we kept sinking in
clay, so that I got so weak I was obliged to give up.
I was now five miles from the camp, and my com-
rade left me for lost. Here I remained for some
time till. I gotin a small jungle. The tide came on
me at seven o'clock p.m., and rose gradually until it
came up to the corner button of my coat. I saw a
light at a distance, but calling for assistance was in
vain. As my last resource I took off my sash and
fastened myself to the bushes, and there I remained
till gunfire in the morning at daylight. It was con- I
eluded in the camp that I was lost. Parties went out
in all directions in search of me, but they could not
find me. Well, I made my way out by ten o'clock
the following morning, with a hard fight, and was
received at the camp by my comrades in the High-
land and hospitable manner of our country by
offering me everything that could be procured. As
soon as [ arrived I was ordered into hospital, but
not kept long in ; the cold got into my lungs, but
I am now recovered."

I visited the place where this occurred last year,
and saw the Beloochee Regiment in Hydrabad.
About a hundred of the men of the regiment recog-
nised me as the brother or friend of their former
sergeant-major. They are fine-looking men and
have a soldier like appearance ; the drawing or
likeness referred to by the historian is sent for your
inspection. On Sergeant Campbell's promotion to
the Beloochee Regiment, the late General William
Napier wrote as follows : _

Guernsey, Oct. 20, 1811.
Dear Sir, —I am glad to hear that your brother has been
promoted in Scinde. Sir C. Napier would not have made
him sergeant-major in any regiment it ho had not found
in him the stuff to make a good ono, much less would ho
have given him such a responsible situation in ono of the
new regiments, the raising of which is a very delicate ex-
periment. lam persuaded from this that your brother is
a superior man, and will get on well if he is able to bear
the climate, which I heartily hope ho may.—l am, !cc.,"
(Signed) W. NAPIER, Major-General.
The historian writes again :

Guernsey, Oct. 3, 1845.

,
My dear Sir, —I will keep you informed about the
Boloochee Battalion when I hear anything, and I hope
your mother's heart will be made glad.—Believe me, yours
very truly.

(Signed) W. NAPIER.
The historian faithfully kept his promise, so that
Sergeant Campbell's mother might know how her
son was getting on. He wrote again as follows :

Guernsey, Sept. 28, 1846.
My dear Sir,—The last news I had of the Beloochee
Battalion was that it was excellent, and that your brave
and worthy brother was only troubled by the Beloochee
insisting, in spite of all his efforts in making salaams to the
padish, as they call the General, when he receives them—
thus your brother's habits of English discipline made him
lament over his troubles on that hand, which rather
amused Sir C. Napier, who is exceedingly fond of a little
fun. He has sent me a drawing of one of the men, a very
handsome lad indeed, and as soldier-like looking as pos-
sible. Depend upon ityour brother will give credit, and
I feel sure he has a friend in the General. Ido not know
if the battalion wore employed in the mountain expedition,
but I dare say I shall hear, and I will let you know.—
Yours faithfully,

(Signed) W. NAPIER, Major-General.
Sergeant Campbell was engaged in this expedition,
and it was the effects of the forced march to Luck-
now, on the mountain expedition, that brought on
his long illness, and from which he never wholly
recovered. Sergeant Campbell had charge of the
treasure, some five sacks of rupees, or £50,000 ster-
ling. While on the march the 78th Regiment lost
a greater number of men from dysentery, fever,
and bad water, &c., than they did at the ever-
memoratle relief of Lucknow. The conduct of the
78th at the relief of Lucknow will ever adorn the
pages of history.
The generous reception they re-
ceived in the town of. Inverness was the theme of
praise all over British India. It has been entered
in the records of the Regiment, and will be handed
down for many generations in the Highlands as an
example for admiration for the honours
paid by a grateful people to the bravery
and devotion of her chivalrous sons. On
the forced march referred to the 78th lost
many men at Scehwan, a native town on the Indus.
The writer visited the graves there, and also at
Lukkeur, where so many hundreds of his brave
countrymen were put into a large pit or grave. It
was the tidings of so many deaths in the regiment
that caused so much anxiety and sorrow to so many
mothers in the Highlands of Scotland that induced
the writer to address the historian, so as to ascer-
tain if he had any recent intelligence from his
brother, the governor of Scinde, and from whom
he received the following letter, bearing date
Guernsey, Sept. i, 1845 :
Dear Sir,--Your letter only reached me here this day.
I thank you for it.
I hop° you saw my letter in the Tinps about the poor
fellows of the 78th. Never was a more'
Tiinfamous attack
made on a public man than that of the Bombay
calla Gazette, (to., about those mon. My brother did every_
"-
thing ho could to save them, from sickness and delatheveaurny.d-
their loss has been a source of deep sorrow to him
letters for months before his recent ekpedition were. filled
with anticipations of what he should be able to do with
his fine Highland regiment.

Ho tells me the battalion of Boloochoos, drilled by your
brother, are going on very well indeed.—Boliovo me truly
yours, (Signed) VV. NAPIER.
In consequence of the bad feeling which existed
on the part of the East India Company towards
General Napier no recommendation of his for Ser-
geant Campbell's promotion would be entertained.
Sergeant Campbell was, therefore, anxious to get
back to his much-loved 78th, where he spent his
early days, and he wrote to General Napier accord-
ingly, w_ho replied as follows :

Sciudo, 11th April, 1844.
Sergeant-Mjor Campbell,—l received your letter dated