1627, William Bennett, 4th Light Dragoons
[PB: WB was not a Charger.]
In January 2017 we were contacted by, Sean Anderson, Champaign, Illinois, USA, asking about an ancestor, William Charles Harris. We're trying to help but it's not looking likely.
ADD CUTTINGS, LINKS & PIX
But it reminded me to list Laurence Crider's section on "Research Problems: Factual errors on a headstone or in an obituary" (In Search of the Light Brigade, 3rd ed. pp.15 — 17).
Ellis Cutting (d. ?, Ohio, USA)
Thomas Kenzie (d. ?)
John Levick (d.? Cleveland)
Bernard McKernan (d. 1897, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, USA)
William Miller (d.?, New London, Conn., USA)
William Nelius (d.?, Manassas, La Jara, Colorado, USA)
Captain Arthur Walpole Rowland (d. ?, Detroit, USA)
James Drysdale Wilson (d.1908? Christchurch, NZ)
Thomas Yates, 13th Light Dragoons (d.? Toledo, Ohio, USA).
To which I should add Gordon Duberry Ramsay, 17th Lancers (who I am currently working on).
And the US person we were contacted about (whose descendant became abusive).
And that person recently discussed in the CrimeanWar email group who wants to put up a memorial?
682 David Pease, 8th Hussars. In 2017, a Crimea medal, said to be to DP, was advertisd online by.... DP did not reach the Crimea, having been injured earlier and taken to Scutari, prior to ...
ONE OF THE NOTED 600
Last Survivor of Historic Charge Dies at Age of 91 Years
Liverpool, April 5 — Trumpeter James Richardson, survivor of the famous Balaclava cavalry charge immortalized by tennyson, died here aged 91.
Two years ago, seven cannister shots were removed from his shoulder, where they had lodged for 64 years without causing him discomfort.
Lawrence Journal-World 10 April 1922
[Lawrence, Kansas, USA]
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19220410&id=Q_BiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7XgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1982,5955431
SLIGHTLY EARLIER DATE:
LIVERPOOL, Apr. 4. Trumpeter James Richardson, a survivor of the famous Balaclava cavalry charge immortalized by Tennyxon, died here aged ninety — one. Two year ago, seven canister shots were removed from his shoulder, where they had lodged for sixty — four years without causing him discomfort.
[Huntingdon Press, USA, 5 Aprll 1922
LATER DATE:
FAMOUS CAVALRY SURVIVOR PRAISED BY TENNYSON, DIES Trumpeter James Richardson, survivor of the famous Balaclava cavalry charge Immortalized by Tennyson, recently died at Liverpool, aged 91 years. Two years ago, seven canister shots were removed from his shoulder, where they had lodged, sixty-four years without causing him discomfort.
Scranton Republican, USA, 6 June 1922
In 2008 [?], "Seamike", "Liverpool Annie" and others wrote a number of posts on a Rootschat forum about Chargers (particularly those allegedly living in the US), sometimes citing the EJBA. Some were indeed Chargers, but several were not. It is not clear whether he thought they really were Chargers, or was simply reporting claims made e.g. in newspapers. Follow up.
Seakmike and Liverpool Annie et al:
From the Brooklyn Eagle:
They have in the Junior Theological Class of Washington University (St. Louis, Mo.,) a hero who was one of the famous "six hundred" at Balaclava. 30 March 1870
One of the Balaklava Six Hundred is now living in Waltham, Mass. 01 July 1873
Blair Irwin, one of the survivors of the gallant six hundred who made the famous charge at Balaklava during the Crimean War... is living with his wife on the small farm known as Ansel Smith place, situated about four miles from Sharon Village, on the borders of Stoughton, Mass.
06 Sep 1902
William Russell Parnell ..... what a life this soldier had!! :)
http://www.rootschat.com/links/02wr/
Rank and organization — First Lieutenant, 1st U.S. Cavalry
Date and Place of Birth — Dublin, Ireland, 13 August 1836.
Entered Service at — Brooklyn, Kings County, New York
Battle or Place of Action — White Bird Canyon, Idaho.
Date of Issue — 16 September 1897
Citation — With a few men, in the face of a heavy fire from pursuing Indians and in imminent peril, returned and rescued a soldier whose horse had been killed and who had been left behind in the retreat
Born in Dublin, Ireland, on August 13, 1836 — Parnell enlisted in the Fourth Hussars of the British Army at the age of eighteen. He later transferred to the Lancers and fought in the Crimean War, participating in the capture of Sebastopol. He was one of the few survivors of the fabled Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaclava.
Parnell immigrated to the United States in 1860 — and soon after the start of the Civil War he enlisted in the Fourth New York Cavalry. Probably because of his military experience, his comrades elected him a first lieutenant. In 1861 and 1862 Parnell served with Blenker's Division in the Army of the Potomac in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia. He took part in the Battles of Cross Keys, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, and Second Manassas. With the Cavalry Corps he fought in the Battles of Fredericksburg, Beverly Ford, Brandy Station, Stoneman's Raid, Aldie, and Middleburg. During the Battle of Upperville on June 21, 1863, Parnell fell into Confederate hands after leading an unsuccessful cavalry charge — but in August he eluded his captors and made his way to Petersubrg, West Virginia.
Reunited with his command — he continued to see action in the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Trevilian Station, Petersburg (Virginia), Lee's Mills, Winchester, and Cedar Creek, and in a number of less important engagements. Before being honorably mustered out on December 5, 1864, Parnell reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and earned one brevet, that of captain, for the gallantry he had displayed at Upperville. Two years after Appomattox, he received a second brevet for general gallantry and meritorious service.
Parnell applied for a commission in the Regular Army near the end of the war, and on February 23, 1866, he accepted an appointment as a second lieutenant in the First Cavalry, becoming a first lieutenant on October 15.
During the summer of 1867, Parnell joined his company from detached service and almost immediately received orders to march to California in order to participate in a campaign against a band of hostiles operating on the Pit River. Lt. Col. George Crook led the punitive expedition, which consisted of Company D of the Twenty-third Infantry, Company H of the First Cavalry (commanded by Parnell), and a group of Boise scouts.
Before long the force encountered a band of warriors on the south fork of Pit River. Entrenched behind boulders on a high and almost inaccessible ledge of rock, the Indians were difficult to reach. On September 26 Crook ordered an assault. Parnell led Company H and the Boise scouts up the south bluff, but the warriors drove them back and the troops returned to their camp at the base of the mountain shortly before dark. At daylight Parnell led a second charge. Under heavy fire, the attackers gained ground and were able to enter the stronghold. There they found only twenty dead hostiles, the rest having made their escape through a subterranean passage.
Crook recommended Parnell for another brevet for his part in the action, and he soon earned the right to be addressed as lieutenant colonel. During the next decade Parnell continued to serve in the Northwest and fought in a number of Indian campaigns. On March 14, 1868, he was wounded at the Battle of Dunder and Blitzen Creek in Oregon, and like the other officers under Perry's command he saw action in the Modoc War.
Parnell bore the marks of many hard campaigns. At Upperville he had been shot in the left hip, and the bullet had imbedded itself in the bone. His doctor had decided to leave the missile where it was, and the veteran officer still carried it with him.
Parnell had also received a number of deep saber cuts at Upperville, and one of them had severed the bone in his nose. As a prisoner of war after battle, he had received no medical attention, and the bone had corroded and fallen away, leaving a gaping hole in the roof of his mouth and making it difficult for him to articulate.
Parnell had a metal plate made to cover the aperture, and although it permitted him to speak intelligibly, it caused his voice to rise in pitch. The plate was fragile, and he lived in constant fear of breaking it — as he did in November of 1869 having to travel to Portland to have a new one made and inserted. Michael McCarthy described Parnell a 'a large fleshy man' who 'taxed the powers of his horse quite heavily.
"During the retreat [From White Bird Canyon] the force passed through a marsh, and Parnell noticed a man struggling over the swampy ground about halfway between the column and the Indians. He could just see the man's head bobbing above the grass. In a few more minutes, the Nez Perce would surely have him. The man was Pvt. Aman Hartman of Company H, who had lost his horse to an Indian bullet. Parnell detailed a couple of men and charged to the rescue. Hartman mounted behind one of the men and the little party rode back to the column"
( Parnell did mention this incident in his report cited in The Battle Of White Bird Caņon (Part II) above, but did not mention the man's name and made no mention of its eventual significance. )
William R. Parnell
William Parnell reached the rank of captain on April 27, 1879. Eight years later on 11 February 1887 he retired on disability. Two sources state that he attained the rank of Colonel yet two others report that his highest rank attained was that of Major. He spent the last ten years of his life as a military instructor at St. Matthew's School in San Mateo, California. Parnell received the Medal of Honor for rescuing Aman Hartman during the retreat to Grangeville on September 16, 1897
Of William Parnell, General Howard wrote the following. "For continuous pluck, good sense, clean headedness under fire, and for the salvation of one half of the command, I think he is deserving a Medal of Honor."
William R. Parnell died at 2:54 a.m. on August 20, 1910. The presiding doctor gave the cause of death as senile debility with chronic cystitis and exhaustion following a prostatectomy and he is buried in San Francisco National Cemetery (0S-68 Row 54), San Francisco, California.
Parnell, William R, d. 08/20/1910, MAJOR US ARMY RTD, Plot: 68 OF8, *
http://www.interment.net/data/us/ca/sanfran/sfnat/san%5Ffran%5Fpalpel.htm
Annie :)
http://museum.mil.idaho.gov/Newsletter/4thQtr2001.htm
Policeman Charles H. McKenzie*, one of the survivors of the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, which Tennyson has immortalized in verse, was burned out this morning. His house, with all it contained, including even his month's pay, which he got day before yesterday, was destroyed. The house stood on Riverside avenue, at Ninety-seventh street, New York. It was a two story and attic frame building, the property of Alexander McDonald, a resident of California.
03 Mar 1886
* E.J. Boys Archive — missing
Charles A. McKenzie, one of the "six hundred" who made the famous charge at Balaklava and served here in the War of the Rebellion, was buried yesterday with military honors by Farnham Post, G.A.R., of which he was a member
17 Jan 1887
pB: who is this?
LOCKPORT-Sergeant Ambrose Short, one of the "Noble Six Hundred", a groceryman of this city, was kicked by his horse and died of his injuries this morning. He was born in Bristol, England. He took part in the charge of the 600 under Carldigan, coming out untouched. At the Queen's jubilee, which he attended, he received a gold medal for services at Balaklava. He got a medal at the close of the Crimean War, one for service in India, and one from Sultan, which he displayed with pride. He had a certificate of good character from his captain, W.R. Tackwell. A year ago he accidently met George Miles * of Wilson, and old comrade of the Light Brigade, by whose side he rode in the famous charge. Both had lived in Niagara twenty years without knowing the other was still alive.
Nov 15, 1901
* E.J. Boys Archive — George Mills
And again Blair Irwin: http://www.rootschat.com/links/02x8/
Blair Irwin, 67 years old, native of Sligo, Ireland, and a survivor of the battle at Balaklava and the charge of the Light brigade, is making arrangements to walk from Boston to Chicago, carrying the American and English flags. He resides in Boston.
12 May 1893
Benjamin Boville, one of the famous 600 who participated in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava died in Troy on Sunday.
22 Jan 1884, Brooklyn Daily Eagle
One of the immortal six hundred who won undying fame for themselves in this memorable piece of military blundering was John Harrison, * who now peacefully pursues the trade of a decorator and paper hanger at Delhi, N.Y., and merely dreams of the time when he sabred the Russian gunners and hewed his way through the ranks of the enemy with "the beautiful white weapon". Harrison was a trooper in the First Royal dragoons.
* E.J. Boys Archive — missing
Aug 11, 1895
Laporte, Ind., October 14 — Michael Cunningham *of Michigan city claims to be one of the survivors of the famous six hundred who were immortalied at the battle of Balaklava. He can neither read nor write, yet he is able minutely and graphically to describe the charge. S.J. Taylor, an attorney, has made application to the British government for a pension for Cunningham, and a letter just received from Sir Herbert E. Maxwell, a member of the British paliament, conveys the assurance that he will be handsomely pensioned. Cunningham is in indigent circumstances. He is said to be the only survivor of the famous charge living in the United States.
*E.J. Boys Archive — James and William Cunningham
14 Oct 1895
Jackson, Mich., July 6 — Thomas Phillips*, one of the four survivors of the historic charge of the six hundred at Balaklava on October 25, 1854, is dead at his home in Woodsville. He has lived in America for twenty years. The other three survivors are living in England.
* E.J. Boys Archive — missing
06 July 1895
Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct.13 — James L. MacLaren, * a veteran of the Crimea died in this city to-day, aged sixty-two years. MacLaren entered the British army service at the age of twelve as a bugler, and lost a leg in famous charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. He had lived in Utah since 1869
Oct. 14, 1902 The Washington Post
He was only 14 during the Charge where he lost his leg!
New London, Conn., March 15. — William E. Miller *, who claimed to be a survivor of the Light Brigade which made the famous charge at Balaklava, is dead at his residence, in Groton. He was born in Scotland in 1828, and at the age of twenty-four enlisted in the army. He served through the Crimean war, being an aide de camp at Balaclava, and won the Victoria Cross. Afterwards he came to this country and served in the navy during the civil war.
Mar 16, 1904, The New York Times
A VETERAN OF THE FAMOUS CHARGE LIVES IN DENVER
Denver, Oct. 27 [1894], — Yesterday for the fortieth anniversary of the famous charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854, immortalized in the well known poem, "Forward the Light Brigade." It is not generally known that in this city lives one if the buglers who sounded the charge upon that day, and which launched the famous Six-Hundred into the valley of death.
Alexander Sutherland, now over 85 years of age, but still a well-preserved man, lives in West Denver. He served in the Light Brigade under Lord Cardigan through the Crimean war and was one of the few who came back alive from that terrible charge, of the like of which history has no record. He came to America after the war and settled in Denver in 1881 (1861?), having lived here ever since. Though the event of his life is forty years away, it still affects Mr. Sutherland to tell the story.
It was October 25, 1854. The Russians had captured the guns from the Turks on the Causeway heights. General SCARLETT, with a heavy cavalry, the Scots >Grays and the Enniskilleners in the front line, had made a brilliant charge, routing many times their number of Russians. The Light Brigade, near by, had been simply idle spectators, but they had been eager to join with SCARLETT's men in their victorious charge. Lord Cardigan had been riding impatiently up and down the line of his own men, disappointed as well as envious that he and his soldiers were not participants in the fight.
Here . . began the first blunder, either through the loose orders of his superiors or the failure of Lord Cardigan to properly interpret their commands. Lucan had expected that Lord Cardigan with the light cavalry would have flanked the Russians when General SCARLETT with the heavies was making his charge.
Mr. SUTHERLAND can tell the story of this charge in a thrilling manner. He charges that Lord Raglan was to blame for the fearful slaughter that day.
His commands were not plain, and while it was afterwards found that his intention was to hurl the Light Brigade upon the Causeway heights and capture the guns the Russians had taken from the Turks, the orders to Lord Cardigan were not distinct. He was ordered to charge for the guns, and as he was a soldier he did as he was told, though he knew that someone had blundered. As to the story of the famous charge. Tennyson has told it all in his great poem. Out of the 613 men who made the charge into the valley, only 195 returned, and most of them were wounded. Over 500 horses were lost in the fight. Mr. SUTHERLAND was wounded in the head and leg, but not seriously.
Mr. SUTHERLAND is an Irishman and came of a fighting family, his father before him having been in the British army, and was one of the officers of the guard over Napolean at St. Helenn. Mr. SUTHERLAND is well know to many people in Denver, but it is not often that he will tell story of the charge of the Light Brigade.
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/co/elpaso/newspapers/1894oc28.txt
The Denver Municipal Band is the oldest professional concert band in the continental United States.
The Denver Municipal Band was founded in the late 1860s by Alex Sutherland, bugler at the "Charge of The Light Brigade." Surviving the ordeal, he settled in Denver where he was active in many of the city's early musical activities. Originally constituted as the GAR Post Band, it performed early municipally funded concerts throughout the 1870s and 80s, changing its name to the Denver Municipal Band in 1891 when it began its continuous history of Denver Municipal Funding.
http://www.dmamusic.org/dmb/
also pic = http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=286323.msg1738954#msg1738954
Survivors of Balaklava Swarming
Not long since we published a statement that Thomas Yates, of Toledo, O., was "believed to be" the sole survivor of the heroes of Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade", and immediately afterwards we published a statement of the death of John Sutherland,*in Denver, Colo., who was the bugler in the Light Brigade. Now comes a statement that George H. Baynes **, of Colorado Springs, says that Mr. Sutherland was ninety-four years old when he died, which would make him forty-four years when he sounded the charge, "and we very seldom had a man in the cavalry at that advanced age. If he was in that charge, I have the greatest respect for him, but if he was the last survivor, then I must be a ghost".
The Colorado Springs Gazette says that Mr. Baynes was one of the twenty-eight fortunate ones out of the six hundred brave fellows who charged unflinchingly for a full half mile through a veritable rain of lead. Mr. Haynes was born in the Madras Presidency, in India, in 1836, his father being chief justice of the presidency. His boyhood says were spent in England, where he attended Eton College. His parents secured him a commission as a cornet in a regiment of light dragoons. When the Crimean War broke out he was but eighteen years of age. He served through the war, resigned his commission, and went to Canada and enlisted in the service there; later went to Australia and allied himself with the New Zealand colonists in their struggle with the natives; and more recently he came to the United States, and served in the Sixth Cavalry under General Chaffee.
Also the Courier Journal of Louisville declares that a plasterer living in that city, P.H. Hussey ***, is a survivor. Mr, Hussey was born in London in 1837; entered the army in 1853; when only sixteen years of age. Through nine long month his brigade accompanied the allies and fought with the Light Brigade. He was shot four times at Balaklava; one missile cut away the greater part of this left eyelash; a second struck him in the hand; a third disabled his left shoulder;and the fourth struck him in the right leg. From all these Mr. Hussey has completely recovered. He possesses numerous medals presented for his service in the British Army, and also owns the stripes of a sergeant, to which position he rose from a private. He has numerous papers verifying his claims. In 1855 he came to this country. Nor is this all. The Walton Reporter, of Delaware County, N.Y., states that John Harrison ****, a survivor, is living at Delhi, in that county.
Mar 9, 1905, Christian Advocate
Alexander Sutherland, said to have been the last survivor of the famous Balaklava "Six Hundred" is dead at his home in Denver, where he had resided for forty years. He was the trumpeter who sounded the bugle call for the charge immortalized by Tennyson.
Nov. 12, 1904, Los Angeles Times
Hiram Williamson *, one of the immortal six hundred who rode into the "valley of death" at Balaklava in 1854, has been made chief porter at the Boston post-office. He is seventy years of age.
June 15, 1889, The Genesse News
New York, May 17. — John Kennedy, a prominent contractor of Brooklyn, one of the survivors of the famous charge at Balaklava, is dead from pneumonia. He was born at Belfast in 1835, and served in the Crimean War as a gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery, took part in its greatest battles and after serving fourting years under the British flag came to America, where he amassed a fortune as a contractor and builder.
May 18, 1904, Los Angeles Times