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The tune,
Ensign Keogh, was written by Pipe Major N. McCutcheon of the
Royal Irish Fusiliers to commemorate the 50th
Anniversary of the Battle of Barrosa. The Battle of Barrosa (Chiclana,
5 March 1811) was part of an unsuccessful maneuver to break the
siege of Cádiz in Spain during the Peninsular War. During the
battle, a single British division defeated two French divisions
and captured a regimental eagle.
Cádiz had
been invested by the French in early 1810, leaving it accessible
from the sea, but in March of the following year a reduction in
the besieging army gave its garrison of Anglo-Spanish troops an
opportunity to lift the siege. A large Allied strike force was
shipped south from Cádiz to Tarifa, and moved to engage the
siege lines from the rear. The French, under the command of
Marshal Victor, were aware of the Allied movement and redeployed
to prepare a trap. Victor placed one division on the road to
Cádiz, blocking the Allied line of march, while his two
remaining divisions fell on the single Anglo-Portuguese
rearguard division under the command of Sir Thomas Graham.
Following a
fierce battle on two fronts, the British succeeded in routing
the attacking French forces. A lack of support from the larger
Spanish contingent prevented an absolute victory, and the French
were able to regroup and reoccupy their siege lines. Graham's
tactical victory proved to have little strategic effect on the
continuing war, to the extent that Victor was able to claim the
battle as a French victory since the siege remained in force
until finally being lifted on 24 August 1812.
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At
the battle, Ensign Edward Keogh and Sergeant Patrick
Masterson captured the Eagle of the 8th Ligne. Keogh
only managed to get a hand on the shaft when he was shot
and bayoneted, he was killed instantly. Masterson had
followed his officer and after killing several men he
wrenched the Eagle from the dying hands of its bearer,
Lieutenant Gazan.
He is supposed to have shouted out "Bejabbers, boys,
I've got the cuckoo!" The French reacted ferociously
attempting to seize it back but the 87th pushed
inexorably onwards. Slowly, in patches, the battle was
won and the battered French withdrew from the area
leaving Graham's exhausted force in possession of the
field.
The Eagle was sent back to London where it was initially
laid up with much ceremony at Whitehall. General Graham
wrote to the Colonel of the 87th, 'Your Regiment has
covered itself with glory; too much cannot be done for
it' and the Prince Regent ordered that the Regiment be
known as the Prince of Wales's Own Irish Regiment and
that it should bear an eagle with laurel wreath on its
Colors.
Sgt. Masterson was rewarded with an ensigncy in the
Royal Yorkshire Light Infantry Volunteers. Later the
eagle was stolen and never recovered but the original
staff is on display in the Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum
in Armagh. |
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