Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1912-09-05


coo pounds sterling; and is entitled to
the letters f. c. B, G. c. B., G. C. l.
L, g. c. S. I. and K. P.
Best Of all, he is afectionaGely
known TO every soldier in the British
army as 'Bobs" He is also the proud
Wearer Of a Victoria Cross, and the
possessor Of a second cross for which
his only son stained the South Afzi-
can yeldt with his life-blood
The idol of the British army was
but lieutenant when he won, his
cross IN the bloody days of the Indian
Mutlny, and at the time was serving
on the staff Of Sir Colin Campbell.
the commandments of the British
forces in India. He had already been
mentioned in dispatches, had been
wounded, and also knocked over by
the 'Windage" of a round shot.
column was moving upon Fate
garh to restore order through a strip
OF dlsoTdered territory, so that com
munlcation might be opened up be
tween the PUnjab and Bengal Riding
with the horse artillery and cavalry,
BoDs' came upon a large body Of
the enemy occupying the village O.
Khundaganj. 1t became necessary to
dislodge and destroy this force if pos
stble, as it was understood that in the
ranks Of this particular body OF Sc
poys We're many who had taken a
more or less prominent part in the
CaWnpore slaughter.
Three guns were pushed across
partly destroyed suspension bridge
over stream. They engaged the enc
my while planks were laid across the
stringers for the passage of the main
body OF the column.
Fearful lest Sir Colin Campbell
should favor the Highlanders by Or
dering them to lead, the SD regiment,
composed mostly of impuIsive Irish
men, charged the village without wait
ing for orders. Nothing remained but
to support them.
AS the yelling troops advanced up
on the village calling upon one anoth-
er to Remember Cawnpore!" the Sc
poys waVered, then hastily Iimbered
up their guns and retired. This gave
the mounted troops an opportunity to
follow up the retreat and inf1ict a sum-
mary punishment.
''Threes eft-trot-march!" came
the order.
And with "Bobs" well in the van
guard, the 9th Lancers led the pur-
suit When within three hundred
yards Of the Sepoys the charge" was
sounded, and within another minute
came the shock. Seven guns were ta-
ken within five minutes.
The line Numbered on, overtaking
groups Of the enemy, who every few
moments paused to kneeI and fire ints
the British. Finally the last body was
oYertaken. The Sepoys halted and
fired a volIey at close range.
Lieutenant Younghusband, riding
near 'Bobs", fell; but the future field
marshal could not ride to his assis-
lance at that moment, for close by
him a Sepoy was attacking one of his
men with a fixed bayonet. With a
stroke of his saber tBobs' put the
Sepoy out of commission and was
about to give his attention to the fall
en- officer when he saw two Sepoys
running away with a regimentat stan
dard in their possession.
Putting spurs to his horse, he over
took the mutineers and ran one Of
them through. He was wrenching the
flag out of the hand of the man he had
cut down, when the other Sepoy
placed the muzzle of his musket close
to Roberts breast, and pulled the trig-
ger. Fortunately for the gallant lieu
tenant it missed fire, and he lived not
only to receive the Victoria Cross from
the hands of the Queen at Bucking-
ham Palace in June Of 1859, but also
to receive from the same hands, some
forty years later, a Victoria Cross
awarded to his dead son, killed upon
the battlefield of Colenso in a desper-
ate attempt to save a battery from
falling into the hands of the Beers.
In writing of these heroes of the
Cross, it would not be fair to dismiss
the subject without mentioning the ex-
pIoits of Field Marshal Sir George
Stuart White, who in 1870 won a cross.
and the following year was awarded a
clasp in addition, equivalent to a sec
ond cross.
White, who succeeded "Bobs" as
commander-in-chief in India, became
an ensign of the 9th Inniskilling regi-
ment in 1858. Ten years later he be-
came a captain in the famous 92d
regiment of Gordon HighIanders. A
major in 1879, he and his regiment
formed part of the avenging column
ordered to Afghanistan to punish the
murderers of Cavagnari.
At the battle of Charasiah, with a
mere handful of HighIanders, he won
his first cross and undying fame by
charging a strongly fortified hill The
men in the kits were outnumbered
in the proportion of ten to one; but
inspired by their gallant major, they
pressed on and captured the position,
much to the surprise and satisfaction
of General "Bobs."
A year later, during the famous trot
of the 10000 from KaDul to Kandahar,
it became necessary to take an Afghan
position. A battery of screw guns
had been Smelling the Afghans for
some time without tangible results.
Supported by a regiment of fighting
Gurkash, the Highlanders scampered
up the hill behind Major White. At
the point of the bayonet they drove
the Afghans away from their guns;
and the first man into the enclosure
was the gallant, major, who lived to
become a field marshal.
Years later, he defended Ladysmith
throughout a siege lasting one hun
dred and ten days, and delighted the
British public by his stern refusal to
entertain Sir Redvers Buffers sugges-
ton that he surrender to the Beers.