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[In a General Order issued from the Horse-Guards on New Year's Day,1836, His Majesty, King William IV., was pleased to direct, throughthe Commander-in-Chief, Lord Hill, that "with the view of doing thefullest justice to Regiments, as well as to Individuals who haddistinguished themselves in action against the enemy," an accountof the services of every Regiment in the British Army should bepublished, under the supervision of the Adjutant General.
With fair promptitude this scheme was put in hand, under theeditorship of Mr. Richard Cannon, Principal Clerk of the AdjutantGeneral's Office. The duty of examining, sifting, and preparing therecords of that distinguished Regiment which I shall here call theMoray Highlanders (concealing its real name for reasons which thenarrative will make apparent) fell to a certain Major ReginaldSparkes; who in the course of his researches came upon a number ofpages in manuscript sealed under one cover and docketed "Memorandaconcerning Ensign D.M.J. Mackenzie. J.R., Jan. 3rd, 1816"—theinitials being those of Lieut.-Colonel Sir James Ross, who hadcommanded the 2nd Battalion of the Morays through the campaign ofWaterloo. The cover also bore, in the same handwriting, the word"Private," twice underlined.
Of the occurrences related in the enclosed papers—of the privateones, that is—it so happened that of the four eye-witnesses nonesurvived at the date of Major Sparkes' discovery. They had, moreover,so carefully taken their secret with them that the Regiment preservednot a rumour of it. Major Sparkes' own commission was considerablymore recent than the Waterloo year, and he at least had heard nowhisper of the story. It lay outside the purpose of his inquiry, andhe judiciously omitted it from his report. But the time is past whenits publication might conceivably have been injurious; and withsome alterations in the names—to carry out the disguise of theRegiment—it is here given. The reader will understand that I use theIPSISSIMA VERBA of Colonel Ross.—Q.]
I had the honour of commanding my Regiment, the Moray Highlanders,on the 16th of June, 1815, when the late Ensign David Marie JosephMackenzie met his end in the bloody struggle of Quatre Bras (his firstengagement). He fell beside the colours, and I gladly bear witnessthat he had not only borne himself with extreme gallantry, butmaintained, under circumstances of severest trial, a coolness whichmight well have rewarded me for my help in procuring the lad'scommission. And yet at the moment I could scarcely regret his death,for he went into action under a suspicion so dishonouring that, hadit been proved, no amount of gallantry could have restored him to therespect of his fellows. So at least I believed, with three of hisbrother officers who shared the secret. These were Major William Ross(my half-brother), Captain Malcolm Murray, and Mr. Ronald BraintreeUrquhart, then our senior ensign. Of these, Mr. Urquhart fell two dayslater, at Waterloo, while steadying his men to face that heroic shockin which Pack's skeleton regiments were enveloped yet not overwhelmedby four brigades of the French infantry. From the others I received atthe time a promise that the accusation again