Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/160

424 whole course of that terrible and eventful war from 1809 to 1814. And these opportunities were neither shunned nor neglected, so that the bivouac and the mess-table were enlivened with tales of his personal prowess and daring. On one occasion, his supreme contempt of danger partook of the ludicrous. While our army was passing a defile, and debouching from it, there was one spot in which part of the troops were exposed to a very heavy fire. But in this post of peculiar peril, Captain Mackinnon was found performing the duties of the toilet, and lathering and shaving his chin, as coolly as if he had been fifty miles from the scene of action. No sight was better calculated to animate dispirited soldiers; they rushed immediately to the onset, and drove the French before them. No wonder that the soldiers loved and were ready to follow an officer who, let the risk be what it might, was ready to encounter or abide his full share. But he was equally endeared to his brother officers, by his overflowing kindness and invincible good nature, so that, during the whole of these trying campaigns, in which patience was tempted to the uttermost, he never gave offence, or adopted a subject of quarrel. Some of these veterans still survive, by whom the amiable qualities of the gallant Celt are affectionately remembered.

After having taken part in every battle from Talavera to Toulouse, the peace of 1814 released Mackinnon from active military duty. It is pleasing also to add, that his services had been appreciated, for he was at once raised from the rank of captain to that of lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream regiment. Relying upon the promise of a lasting peace, he returned to England, but was suddenly roused, like many of his brethren upon leave of absence, by the escape of Bonaparte from Elba, and the astounding events that followed in quick succession. Napoleon was once more upon the throne of France, and a fresh war was inevitable. Knowing this, Colonel Mackinnon hurried to Ramsgate to join his regiment, now quartered in Brussels, but not finding the expected vessel ready to sail, he threw himself, with another officer, into an open boat, and reached Ostend in time to join in the engagements of the 16th and 17th of June, and finally, in the great battle of Waterloo.

Of the many hundreds of episodes that constitute this great military assize of the nations, and out of which so many volumes of history and biography have been constructed, and amidst the mélée of wonderful charges and brave deeds that occurred every moment, and over every part of the field, we must limit our attention to a thousandth part of the great event, and attend exclusively to the movements of Mackinnon. Amidst the fire, he had three horses shot under him. In one of these volleys by which he was successively brought down, he was himself shot in the knee, his sword flew from his hand, and in falling, he alighted upon a prostrate French officer, who was wounded like himself. Mackinnon immediately took possession of the Frenchman's sword, with an apology for using it, as he had lost his own, mounted a fresh horse, and continued to charge at the head of his regiment, until he was detached with 250 of his Coldstreams, and 1st regiment of Guards, for the defence of the farm of Hougoumont. This was the key of Wellington's position, and Mackinnon was ordered to defend it to the last extremity. And well do the records of Waterloo testify how faithfully this command was obeyed. For a considerable period, the whole interest of the conflict was converged round this farm and its outhouses, the possession, of which was of the utmost importance to Napoleon, so that mass after mass of French grenadiers was hurled against it in rapid sue-