Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/270

218 to reverberate among the steep acclivities of the rocky eminences which rise above the dark bush that conceals the enemy. Towards mid-day the wind changed to the south-east, which wafted the sounds from this direction. All were anxiously awaiting the arrival of intelligence from the scene of strife, as we had reason to believe that, from the rapid reports, the conflict was maintained with obstinacy and resolution. Hour succeeded hour, until long after, when in broken accents it was revealed that Colonel Fordyce had fallen. But as this report rested upon the authority of a private letter, brought in by two mounted Fingoes, hopes were entertained that, in the heat and bustle of the moment, some mistake might have occurred. About nine at night, however, the event was confirmed by an eye-witness to the melancholy fact, from whom it appears that the Colonel was leading his men into Waterkloof in column, when suddenly his march was arrested by a rocky precipice, which flanked him in the form of a semicircle; here he found the rebels in considerable force, who knew too well the rules of military tactics to let so favourable an opportunity escape for inflicting a penalty. The bayonets of our brave countrymen in such a position were powerless; they had therefore to contend against an enemy concealed among inaccessible rocks, whom they could not assail; and thus fell, while showing to his men, by example, the first duties of a soldier, the good and the gallant Fordyce. Thus fell the father of his distinguished regiment, to the honour of which all his impulses were directed. The soldier, the women, and children, to whose comforts he devoted himself with parental solicitude, will long cherish his remembrance. It is to be regretted that so valuable a life should have been sacrificed in so ignoble a strife."

Extract from the leading article of the "Naval and Military Gazette," February, 1852.—. . . "And here we may observe that there must have been something singularly attractive in the noble soldier who fell at the head of the 74th Highlanders, which, in the short time (six months) he had been in the colony, and in Graham's Town in particular, should have so impressed and so endeared him to the inhabitants that the journals of that town announcing his death should be margined with black, and the bell of their distant church has tolled his funeral knell; while the colours, half-mast high, floated languidly in the air, in token of a hero's fall!"

G

—An approved soldier and excellent writer, was born at Perth in 1780, and was the son of Mr. James Galloway of that city. Having chosen arms for his profession, and India for his destination, Archibald Galloway was nominated a cadet in 1799, and appointed to the 58th native infantry, of which he finally became colonel in 1836. During this long period of military service in India, extending over thirty-five years, he was present in several engagements, as well as six sieges and seven storms, in four of which he took a very active share. When Delhi, defended by a handful of British troops, maintained itself against a besieging army of 70,000 men and 130 pieces of cannon, Galloway was one of the brave defenders, and fully shared in the honours of that remarkable resistance. He was also present at the siege of Bhurtpore, conducted by Lord Lake. Captain Galloway's post on that