THE COMMANDER OF THE “THIN RED LINE”.

THE STORY OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL.

It was the 21st Of October, 1808.  Colin Campbell, not yet sixteen, had joined the army as ensign; and the battle of Vimiera was about to begin.

It was his “baptism of fire”.  Colin was in the rear company.  His captain came for him, and taking the lad’s hand walked with him up and down in front of the leading company for several minutes, whilst the enemy’s guns were commencing to fire.  Then he told the youngster to go back to his place.

“It was the greatest kindness that could have been shown to me at such a time; and through life I have felt grateful for it,” wrote Colin Campbell in later life of this incident.

Soon after, the regiment to which he belonged formed part of the army that retreated to Corunna, when our troops suffered such terrible hardships.  Colin Campbell had a rough time of it then.  The soles of his boots were worn to pieces, and so long a time did he wear them without a change that the uppers stuck firmly to his legs; and, though the boots were soaked in hot water, the skin came away when they were taken off.

After the battle of Corunna,—­when the British brought to bay, turned and defeated their foes,—­it was Colin’s regiment that had the honour of digging the grave in which their heroic commander Sir John Moore was buried.

Battle after battle followed ere the French troops were driven out of Spain, and Colin Campbell, young as he was, fought like a veteran.

At Barossa his bravery brought him into special notice, and at the San Sebastian he led a storming party, and was twice wounded in doing so.

First of all he was shot through the right thigh; but though a storm of bullets was flying about, and men falling thick around him, he was up again, and pressed onward only to be again shot down.

For his gallant conduct on this occasion he was specially mentioned in the despatch that the general commanding the forces sent to the Duke of Wellington.

A few weeks later the troops moved on, and fought at the battle of Bidassoa, Colin Campbell being left in the hospital to recover from his wounds.

But so little was it to his liking to stay in the rear that he escaped from the hospital, and managed not only to fight at Bidassoa, but to get wounded again!

He was, of course, reproved by his colonel; but who could be seriously angry with a youngster for such conduct?  So when he was sent back to England to get healed of his wounds, he was made a captain at the early age of twenty-one.

Among the first things that Colin Campbell did when he received his captain’s pay was to make his father an allowance of L30 or L40 a year; and later on it was an immense satisfaction for him to be able to provide both for his father and sister.

In the Chinese war of 1842 he was in command of the 98th Regiment.  The tremendous heat of the country during the summer terribly thinned the ranks of his forces, and he lost over 400 men in eighteen months.  He himself was struck down by sunstroke and fever; but, owing probably to his temperate and careful habits, he soon recovered.