Victorian Era Soldier of Fortune

[Streetcar]

I'm a bit of a fan of the Flashman books (as I have a hunch many of you may be) and I'm in the middle of Flashman and the Mountain of Light.
One of the characters is a Mercenary adventurer named Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner. I managed to find a photo of him on Wikipedia:



The photo is from his time in India. He supposedly bought the tartan from a Highland regiment in India. It is suspected to be that of the 79th Highlanders, but as there are no color photos, it cannot be confirmed.

[O'Neille]

Now there's a look that would be hard to duplicate. O'Neille

[Big Dave]

Cool photo.

[Yaish]

That's just tactical camoflage for a tablecloth factory.

[MacWage]

At the time, uniforms were more about "professionalism" and intimidation than hiding. Heck, they stood in straight lines and shot at each other, for to do something else -break ranks and take cover- was seen as cowardly.

Honestly, with the weapons of the time, massed line fire was probably the best tactics anyways. It was only at the creation of rifles, especially breech (sp?) loaders, that the necessary range was possible to break ranks and continue firing and fighting. With the machine gun, everything changed and it became necessary to take cover to live.

If you look at the American Civil War/War Between the States :rolleyes: , they started fighting in standing ranks (Manassas/Bull Run) and ended fighting in trenches and behind cover (Fredricksburg and afterwards). Indeed one of the interesting parts of Gettysburg was the bridging of the two with ranked lines and a mass charge on one side and fighting with cover on others. It took the rest of the world until practically World War I to realize the shift. That war also started using Naponeonic tactics (open defenses and mass charges) and ended with cover, with the mass lost of life in between.

(As for battle names-> The Union/North used river names, while the South used the nearest town, so the names DO NOT match and cause MASS confusion to the casual person. For example-> Bull run is the creek that runs through Manassas, Virginia-> BOTH are the SAME battle.)

Actually, I like the outfit in question. BUT, I wonder what folkswould think of one of us recreated it and wore it to some highland games!!!

It is QUITE appropriate for Victorian era India!!!

(If one of our military experts desires to correct me or expand-> feel free, all I am after is spreading the truth)

[macwilkin]

(If one of our military experts desires to correct me or expand-> feel free, all I am after is spreading the truth)

Actually, you did a pretty good job with that last post. :mrgreen:

Gardner was a soldier-of-fortune with the Sikhs in the Punjab. Much like their relationship with the Gurkhas, the Scots, especially Highlanders, built a very strong relationship with the Sikhs during the days of the British Raj in India. Another Scot, Captain Thomas Rattray, formed a regiment of Sikhs, the 45th, in the 19th century. Today, the old 45th is part of the 3rd Battalion of The Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army, and still maintains ties with the Clan Rattray, and even has pipers clad in the Rattray tartan (though not kilts):

http://www.clanrattray.org/sikhregiment.html

Cheers,

Todd