Research Results For 'Regiment'

DIE-HARD

A die-hard is someone who refuses to surrender or give-up. The term was given as a nickname to the old 57th Regiment of Foot (later known as the West Middlesex Regiment) following their involvement at the Battle of Albuera in 1811 when their colonel, Inglis, told his men to 'die hard'. At the battle the regimental banner was pierced with thirty bullet holes, twenty-three of the twenty-four officers were killed and 416 of the 584 men killed.
Research Die-Hard

FLAG

In its most popular usage, a flag is a piece of bunting, usually but not always, square or rectangular in shape, attached to a pole and used as a standard, ensign or signal for display or decoration, and to distinguish one company, party, or nationality from another. Formerly in Britain, a black flag was raised outside prisons to announce the execution of a prisoner. Traditionally in Britain, when in mourning flags are lowered to halfway down the pole and 'flown at half mast'.

In the army a flag is a banner by which one regiment is distinguished from another. Flags borne on the masts of vessels not only designate the country to which they belong, but also are made to denote the quality of the officer by whom a ship is commanded. Thus in the British navy an admiral's flag was displayed at the maintop-gallant-mast-head, a vice-admiral's at the foretop-gallant-mast-head, and a rear-admiral's at the mizzen-top-gallant-mast-head.

In the navy the supreme flag of Great Britain is the royal standard, which is only to be hoisted when the sovereign or one of the royal family is on board the vessel. All British ships of war in commission carry the white ensign, that is a white flag divided into four quarters by the red cross of St George and having the union flag (or union 'jack' as it is popularly called) in the upper corner next the staff.

British merchant ships are entitled to carry a red flag with the union in the corner. The union is the flag commonly used on shore as the national ensign. To lower or strike the flag is to pull it down, or take it in, out of respect or submission to superiors. To lower or strike the flag in an engagement is a sign of yielding. A sign of mourning is to hoist the flags at a half or two-thirds of the height of the masts, if on land at half the height of the staff. Besides the use of flags as distinguishing emblems, a very important use of them at sea, both by national and mercantile navies, is as signals according to an arranged code.
Research Flag

ALFRED HOWE TERRY

Alfred Howe Terry was an American general. He was born in 1827 and died in 1890. He was one of the most successful of the civilian officers in the War of the Rebellion. Before the struggle he had been a lawyer, paying some attention to militia matters. During the first year he commanded a regiment at the capture of Port Royal and Fort Pulaski. Being made a brigadier-general, he served in 1862-1863 in the operations near Charleston. He commanded a corps in the Army of the James, and fought at Chester Station, Drewry's Bluff and the siege of Petersburg. He was entrusted with the military part of the second attempt on Fort Fisher, in January, 1865, co-operating with the admiral. The successful storming of the fort on January the 14th made Alfred Howe Terry a brigadier-general in the regular army. He captured Wilmington, and was a departmental commander after the war. General Alfred Howe Terry became major-general in 1886, and retired in 1888.
Research Alfred Howe Terry

ANTHONY WAYNE

Anthony Wayne (known as Mad Anthony) was an American insurgent. He was born in 1745 at Pennsylvania and died in 1796. A surveyor in early life, he became a member of the Legislature and Committee of Public Safety, and commanded a regiment in the Canadian invasion of 1775-1776. Later he had charge of the Ticonderoga forts. Being appointed brigadier-general he was in charge of a division at Brandywine and conducted a successful retreat. He was surprised at Paoli, commanded the right wing at Germantown, and was distinguished at Monmouth. His famous exploit was the storm of Stony Point, on July the 15th, 1779. General Wayne suppressed the mutiny of the troops at Morristown, in January, 1781, had an honourable part in Virginia the same year and in Georgia in 1783. He was a member of the Pennsylvania ratifying convention of 1787. When the Indian affairs required a decisive policy, he was made major-general, and inflicted an overwhelming blow at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, which led to an Indian treaty the following year.
Research Anthony Wayne

BANNASTRE TARLETON

Sir Bannastre Tarleton was a British soldier. He was born in 1754 and died in 1833. A colonel, he went to America from England with Charles Cornwallis in 1776. He engaged in Colonel Harcourt's raid upon Baskingridge, New Jersey. In 1779 he organized the British Legion, or Tarleton's Legion, in South Carolina, with which he conducted partisan warfare. He slaughtered Colonel Buford's regiment at Waxhaw Creek and fought bravely at Camden and Fishing Creek. He was defeated at Blackstock Hill by General Sumter and his force was almost annihilated at Cowpens by General Morgan. He surrendered with Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown. He wrote 'A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America'.
Research Bannastre Tarleton

BENJAMIN HARRISON

Benjamin Harrison was an American politician. He was born in 1740 at Virginia and died in 1791. He was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1764, a member of the Correspondence Committee in 1773, and a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778. From 1778 to 1782 he was Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and ardently advocated united opposition to Great Britain. He was Governor of the State from 1782 to 1784, and when a delegate to the State Convention of 1788 opposed the ratification of the Constitution as being a national and not a Federal document.

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the USA from 1889 to 1893. He was born in 1833 at North Bend, Ohio and died in 1901. The grandson of President William Henry Harrison, he graduated at Miami University in 1852, and settled as a lawyer in Indianapolis. He was elected reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1860, but his term was interrupted by the American Civil War.

He volunteered in 1863 and was colonel of an Indiana regiment in the battles of Resaca and Peach Tree Creek in 1864 he won distinction. Leaving the army with the brevet of brigadier-general, he resumed his position of Supreme Court reporter.

General Harrison was a successful lawyer and campaign orator, and in 1876 he received the Republican nomination for Governor, being defeated by a small majority. His name was presented to the Republican National Convention of 1880. Elected to the US Senate, he served from 1881 to 1887. At the National Convention of 1888 he was a leading candidate from the start, received the nomination, and was elected over President Cleveland in a campaign in which protection was the principal issue.

In his Cabinet, James Blaine in the State and Windom in the Treasury Department were national figures. Proctor, and later Elkins, was in the War Department, B F Tracy in the Navy, Noble in the Interior, Rusk Secretary of Agriculture, Miller Attorney-General, and Wanamaker Postmaster-General. The administration was marked politically by the McKinley Tariff Act in 1890, with the attendant feature of reciprocity; the foreign relations with Chili and Hawaii were matters of interest.

In 1892 the President was a candidate for renomination, and received the gift over his powerful rival, James Blaine, who resigned from the Cabinet during the contest. President Harrison was in the election again confronted with Cleveland. The Democratic reaction, very marked in 1890, proved to be still in force, and the President was defeated and retired from office in 1893.
Research Benjamin Harrison

BEVERLY ROBINSON

Beverly Robinson was an American soldier. He was born in 1723 at New York and died in 1792. He commanded the Loyalist American regiment during the American War of Independence. He was concerned in the negotiations of Bennedict Arnold, and was prominent in the trial of Major Andre. After the war his immense estate was taken from him by the American authorities.
Research Beverly Robinson

CLAUDE BONNEVAL

Claude Alexandre Bonneval (Count Bonneval) was a French adventurer. He was born in 1675 of an illustrious French family and died in 1747. In the war of the Spanish Succession he obtained a regiment, and distinguished himself by his valour as well as by his excesses. On his return to France he was obliged to fly in consequence of some expressions against the minister and Madame de Maintenon. Received into the service of Prince Eugene he now fought against his native country, and, after performing many signal services, he was raised in 1716 to the rank of lieutenant field-marshal in the Austrian service, and distinguished himself against the Turks at Peterwardein. But his reckless and impatient spirit brought him into conflict with the superior authorities, and he finally took refuge in Constantinople (Istanbul), where he was well received. He was now converted to Islam, submitted to circumcision, received the name of Achmet, was made a pasha of three tails, and as general of a division of the army achieved some considerable successes against Russians and Austrians. The memoirs of his life published under his name are not genuine.
Research Claude Bonneval

COLIN CAMPBELL

Sir Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde, was a Scottish soldier. He was born in 1792 at Glasgow and died in 1863. His father, John M'Liver, a native of Mull, was as a cabinet-maker, his mother's maiden name was Campbell, and she was the daughter of a small proprietor in Islay. By the assistance of his mother's relations he was educated at the High School of Glasgow, and afterwards at the Military Academy, Gosport.

In 1808 he received an ensign's commission in the 9th Regiment of Foot, having previously changed his name to Campbell, at the suggestion of his maternal uncle, an officer in the army. He served in Spain under Sir John Moore and Wellington, being engaged in the battles of Barossa and Vittoria, and having displayed distinguished gallantry at the siege of San Sebastian, where, as well as at the Bidassoa, he was severely wounded.

In 1819-1825 he was in the West Indies. In 1835 he attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1842 he was in China in command of the 98th Regiment, and on the termination of the Chinese war took active service in India, where he acquired such reputation in the second Sikh war as to receive the thanks of parliament and the title of KCB. In 1854 he became major-general, with the command of the Highland Brigade in the Crimean war. His services at the battles of Alma and Balaklava, and during the war generally, were conspicuous, so that on the outbreak of the Indian mutiny he was appointed to the chief command there. Landing at Calcutta on the 29th of August, 1857, he relieved Henry Havelock and Outram at Lucknow, and crushed the rebellion entirely before the end of the year. For his services here Sir Colin Campbell received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, was created a peer with the title of Baron Clyde, and had an income of 2000 pounds a year allotted him. In 1862 he was made field-marshal.
Research Colin Campbell

COLONEL

In the British Army, a Colonel is the commanding officer of a regiment, or an officer of similar rank on the general staff.
Research Colonel

	The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by Matt and Leela Probert ©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia Southampton, United Kingdom